Junior Developer Toolboxhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com
A podcast about building, maintaining, and surviving a career in software engineering.Wed, 24 Apr 2019 20:13:11 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/v3-100x103.pngJunior Developer Toolboxhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com
3232Erin Orstrom & Dave HarnedcleanepisodicErin Orstrom & Dave Harnedhelloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.comhelloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.com (Erin Orstrom & Dave Harned)2017 Junior Developer Toolbox. All rights reserved.A podcast about building, maintaining, and surviving a career in software engineering.Junior Developer Toolboxhttp://68.183.27.250/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Jr_Dev_Toolbox_Logo_2018_400x413.pnghttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com
Episode 39 - Starting a Project on the Sidehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-39-starting-a-project-on-the-side/
Tue, 09 Apr 2019 13:06:31 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=549https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-39-starting-a-project-on-the-side/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-39-starting-a-project-on-the-side/feed/1In this episode we’ll be talking about different considerations when building an application outside of your day job. We’ll talk about gathering requirements, choosing a tech stack, and setting the right expectations with your client. “Sharpening the Tools” – the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generallyContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be talking about different considerations when building an application outside of your day job. We’ll talk about gathering requirements, choosing a tech stack, and setting the right expectations with your client.

“Sharpening the Tools” – the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.
————————–

Erin:

Making progress on the Python track. Finished the Lists course and workshop on __dunder__ (double under) main. Currently working on Object-Oriented Python.

Spent a couple of weeks being a Teacher’s Assistant in NSS’s Jumpstart class.

Also, got a job promotion to “Software Engineer”, so I suppose I’m officially no longer a “junior” developer.

Dave:

Followed a dotnet core tutorial for a simple Todo App, and built the Angular UI to integrate with it. Excited about Angular Testing workshop that work is sending me to later this week!

“Opening the Toolbox”

Today we’re discussing things to consider when getting started on a side project.

Considerations:

What are we going to build? How to approach it?

Talk with stakeholders about Requirements

Plan for getting feedback from them throughout the project

Tech stack

Hosting

Deployment platform (Heroku, Digital Ocean, etc.)

Cost? Budget?

Timeline & availability for those working on the project

Splitting up the work

Tracking the project

Use Trello or a similar project tracking tool

References
==========

Extra Links
===========

Enjoy the podcast? Consider supporting our work by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. Every little bit helps cover our basic expenses and keep the show going.

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking about different considerations when building an application outside of your day job. We’ll talk about gathering requirements, choosing a tech stack, and setting the right expectations with your client.
“Sharpening the Tools” – the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.

————————–
Erin:
Making progress on the Python track. Finished the Lists course and workshop on __dunder__ (double under) main. Currently working on Object-Oriented Python.
Spent a couple of weeks being a Teacher’s Assistant in NSS’s Jumpstart class.
Also, got a job promotion to “Software Engineer”, so I suppose I’m officially no longer a “junior” developer.
Dave:
Followed a dotnet core tutorial for a simple Todo App, and built the Angular UI to integrate with it. Excited about Angular Testing workshop that work is sending me to later this week!

“Opening the Toolbox”
Today we’re discussing things to consider when getting started on a side project.
Considerations:

* What are we going to build? How to approach it?
* Talk with stakeholders about Requirements
* Plan for getting feedback from them throughout the project
* Tech stack
* Hosting
* Deployment platform (Heroku, Digital Ocean, etc.)
* Cost? Budget?
* Timeline & availability for those working on the project
* Splitting up the work
* Tracking the project

* Use Trello or a similar project tracking tool

References

==========

Extra Links

===========

Enjoy the podcast? Consider supporting our work by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. Every little bit helps cover our basic expenses and keep the show going.
You can also donate to our JDT PayPal page.

www.juniordevelopertoolbox.com]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean39:39Episode 38 - The Bootcamp Experience: From Padawan to Coding Master with Steve Brownleehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-38-the-bootcamp-experience-from-padawan-to-coding-master-with-steve-brownlee/
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:00:56 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=545https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-38-the-bootcamp-experience-from-padawan-to-coding-master-with-steve-brownlee/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-38-the-bootcamp-experience-from-padawan-to-coding-master-with-steve-brownlee/feed/0Today we have a very special guest on the show – Steve Brownlee. Steve has been a lead instructor at Nashville Software School since 2015 and has watched the program grow and mature over the last 4 years. He has taught and mentored many students (including me in cohort 12!) through NSS’s program and watchedContinue reading →Today we have a very special guest on the show – Steve Brownlee. Steve has been a lead instructor at Nashville Software School since 2015 and has watched the program grow and mature over the last 4 years. He has taught and mentored many students (including me in cohort 12!) through NSS’s program and watched them launch their software development careers.

Steve has over 25 years of web and software development experience across a variety of industries working with different programming languages, tools, and technologies. He stays very plugged into the Nashville technology community.

He enjoys sharing his coding and learning knowledge with others, working on his calligraphy with high quality pens, and bookmaking.

Did we miss anything, Steve?

Topic Intro
“This is Episode Number 38 “The Bootcamp Experience: From Padawan to Coding Master”. Today we’ll be talking about attending bootcamps from an instructor’s perspective, with advice about preparing to learn, absorbing new concepts, and taking your career to the next level.”

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

“Sharpening the Tools”
—————————

Erin:

More review of Python basics. A lot of it has been basics you learn every time you learn a new language so far, but just getting used to Python syntax, because it’s a bit different than what I’m used to with C# and JavaScript.

Dave:

Slack integration.

Steve (optional):

I’ll be talking about learning Docker

“Opening the Toolbox”

————————–

Episode Outline
===============

We are welcoming Steve Brownlee to the show today to discuss his role as a bootcamp coach and lead instructor, and to share advice he has for people looking to enroll in a bootcamp program, are currently going through a bootcamp program, or who have finished and are now looking for their first developer job.

How did you learn to code when you first started? What resources were available to you?

What would you tell someone thinking about enrolling a software bootcamp? How can they best prepare for the 6+ months of firehose of information they’ll be receiving? What other considerations are there?

What traits or behaviors help bootcamp students be successful?

How do you adapt your teaching to different learning styles?

What are some tactics for helping students stay encouraged during the program, especially when they reach the “valley / pit of despair”?

How do you design a curriculum? Is it a challenge to balance fundamentals with ‘chasing the latest hotness’? How do you decide which languages, frameworks, etc. are relevant?

What are some things that might indicate someone is NOT cut out for a bootcamp style education? What learning resources/paths would you suggest to them instead?

What are some hiring trends you’ve noticed as a software instructor?

Of your students that get hired quickly, what are some ways they get noticed by employers?

What are some tips you’d suggest for developers to keep their careers open to opportunities even after they land their first developer job?

]]>Today we have a very special guest on the show – Steve Brownlee. Steve has been a lead instructor at Nashville Software School since 2015 and has watched the program grow and mature over the last 4 years. He has taught and mentored many students (inclu...
Steve has over 25 years of web and software development experience across a variety of industries working with different programming languages, tools, and technologies. He stays very plugged into the Nashville technology community.
He enjoys sharing his coding and learning knowledge with others, working on his calligraphy with high quality pens, and bookmaking.
Did we miss anything, Steve?

Topic Intro

“This is Episode Number 38 “The Bootcamp Experience: From Padawan to Coding Master”. Today we’ll be talking about attending bootcamps from an instructor’s perspective, with advice about preparing to learn, absorbing new concepts, and taking your career to the next level.”

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

“Sharpening the Tools”

—————————
Erin:
More review of Python basics. A lot of it has been basics you learn every time you learn a new language so far, but just getting used to Python syntax, because it’s a bit different than what I’m used to with C# and JavaScript.

Dave:
Slack integration.

Steve (optional):
I’ll be talking about learning Docker

“Opening the Toolbox”
————————–
Episode Outline

===============
We are welcoming Steve Brownlee to the show today to discuss his role as a bootcamp coach and lead instructor, and to share advice he has for people looking to enroll in a bootcamp program, are currently going through a bootcamp program, or who have finished and are now looking for their first developer job.

* How did you learn to code when you first started? What resources were available to you?
* What would you tell someone thinking about enrolling a software bootcamp? How can they best prepare for the 6+ months of firehose of information they’ll be receiving? What other considerations are there?
* What traits or behaviors help bootcamp students be successful?
* How do you adapt your teaching to different learning styles?
* What are some tactics for helping students stay encouraged during the program, especially when they reach the “valley / pit of despair”?
* How do you design a curriculum? Is it a challenge to balance fundamentals with ‘chasing the latest hotness’? How do you decide which languages, frameworks, etc. are relevant?
* What are some things that might indicate someone is NOT cut out for a bootcamp style education? What learning resources/paths would you suggest to them instead?
* What are some hiring trends you’ve noticed as a software instructor?
* Of your students that get hired quickly, what are some ways they get noticed by employers?
* What are some tips you’d suggest for developers to keep their careers open to opportunities even after they land their first developer job?

Where to find Steve?:
LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenbrownlee/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_stevebrownlee
]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean1:09:41Episode 37 - LOL: Lexicon of Languageshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-37-lol-lexicon-of-languages/
Tue, 26 Feb 2019 21:52:03 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=528https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-37-lol-lexicon-of-languages/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-37-lol-lexicon-of-languages/feed/1In this episode we’ll be talking about popular languages in 2019, some common traits they share, and deciding which ones to learn next. “‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.” “Sharpening theContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be talking about popular languages in 2019, some common traits they share, and deciding which ones to learn next.

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

“Sharpening the Tools”
————————–

Erin:

Finished with JavaScript Objects. Started digging into Python a bit just because.

Dave:

Office Olympics, remembering to take care of your physical self.

“Opening the Toolbox”

Episode Outline
===============

According a TechRepublic article, here are the 10 most popular programming languages as of December 2018:

Java

C

Python

C++

Visual Basic .NET

C#

JavaScript

PHP

SQL

Objective-C

We wanted to take a cursory dive into some of the different languages if you’re curious about them or trying to figure out which one you want to learn next.

PHP: Hypertext processor: an early web language that’s pretty widespread throughout the internet, especially due to use of popular CMSs like WordPress.

Objective C

A general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. … It was selected as the main language used by NeXT for its NeXTSTEP operating system, from which macOS and iOS are derived.

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking about popular languages in 2019, some common traits they share, and deciding which ones to learn next. “‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using,
“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”
“Sharpening the Tools”

————————–
Erin:
Finished with JavaScript Objects. Started digging into Python a bit just because.
Dave:
Office Olympics, remembering to take care of your physical self.

“Opening the Toolbox”
Episode Outline

===============
According a TechRepublic article, here are the 10 most popular programming languages as of December 2018:

* Static typed languages are those in which type checking is done at compile-time
* Dynamic typed languages are those in which type checking is done at run-time

Weakly Typed vs. Strongly typed (Behavior of variable types)

* Strongly typed means a variable will not be automatically converted from one type to another. (explicit conversion is required)
* Weakly typed means variables can be implicitly coerced to unrelated types

JavaScript, Java, and C# are popular Enterprise languages and are very well established.
While Java and C# are server side languages, JavaScript is both a client side and server side language (Node.js).

PHP: Hypertext processor: an early web language that’s pretty widespread throughout the internet, especially due to use of popular CMSs like WordPress.

Objective C

* A general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. … It was selected as the main language used by NeXT for its NeXTSTEP operating system, from which macOS and iOS are derived.

10 Best Programming Languages to Learn in 2019 (for Job & Future):
...]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean54:59Episode 36 - The Bootcamp Experience: Landing the Job with Jonathan Edwardshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-36-the-bootcamp-experience-landing-the-job-with-jonathan-edwards/
Tue, 12 Feb 2019 23:59:11 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=521https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-36-the-bootcamp-experience-landing-the-job-with-jonathan-edwards/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-36-the-bootcamp-experience-landing-the-job-with-jonathan-edwards/feed/0In this episode we talk to Jonathan Edwards about final bootcamp projects and presentations, job interviews, and landing your first developer job! Jonathan is a recent graduate of NSS cohort 27. Previously, he received his BS in Communication Advertising from UT Knoxville and moved to Nashville four years ago to pursue music. He developed anContinue reading →In this episode we talk to Jonathan Edwards about final bootcamp projects and presentations, job interviews, and landing your first developer job!

Jonathan is a recent graduate of NSS cohort 27. Previously, he received his BS in Communication Advertising from UT Knoxville and moved to Nashville four years ago to pursue music. He developed an interest in web development while working in digital marketing, after which he decided to enroll in NSS’s full stack software bootcamp. He’s a new employee at naviHealth, and we’re talking to him today about what the post-NSS job hunt was like and the process of landing the job.

“Sharpening the Tools”
—————————
“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

Meet-up presentation on Impostor Syndrome – working toward my 2019 goal of submitting a talk to a tech conference.

Jonathan:

Angular tutorials, and finishing a React app

*Shoutouts*

We’d like to give a shoutout to Brandon, our newest patron on Patreon. Thanks so much for your support!

“Opening the Toolbox”

Episode Outline
===============

Tell us a little bit about your background.

From Knoxville, TN. Studied Advertising at UT. Moved to Nashville for music

How did you get interested in web/software development?

Always had an interest in learning how to code, but kept coming up with reasons as to why I couldn’t do it

Was looking for ways to grow digital marketing skill-set when I came across web development and web design.

Took some online classes to teach myself some basics and fell in love with it.

Decided this is where I belonged and decided to attend NSS to make sure I was learning the right material in the right way

Can you describe your overall NSS experience? Do you feel adequately prepared for a junior level developer position?

Absolutely, attending NSS was the best decision I’ve ever made.

The second half of the course is spent working on teams doing weeklong sprints with planning, standups, retros, etc

The biggest thing was learning how to learn, because there will always be something new to learn in this field.

Another big plus of NSS is all of the extra help they give us outside of the classroom, with resume writing, interview prep, etc

Were there other paths in development that you considered?

Originally wanted to do more front-end focused work, but after going through the back-end of the course and getting experience with C# .NET, SQL, etc., doing full-stack work is where I see myself longterm. I like different parts about both front-end and back-end development and look forward to using both in my career

Can you tell us about your capstone projects? What languages/technologies did you learn?

Front-end capstone written in React using Bloomer and Bulma for styling

Called Sommelier. Goal to help people with wine collections keep track of the wines they have on hand, while also getting recommendations of what wine to drink based on what they are having for dinner.

Users build out their “cellar” in the application by filling out a form

Can see a list of every wine they have saved and can click on one to view details or make changes.

Tell us about the Demo Day experience.

It was so fun, but it went by incredibly fast. I talked with so many people and it felt good to show off all of my hard work and everything I had learned from NSS.

Some people wanted to get technical and ask questions about how specific parts worked or see some of the code I had written

It was the perfect way to wrap up the six months I had spent there with my classmates.

What was your post graduation job hunt experience like? How many companies did you interview with? Did you receive any other offers?

My job hunt was fairly short, I was able to get an offer 10 days after graduating.

I interviewed with 3 different companies, all of which I met through demo day. Combination of phone interviews, in-person interviews, technical interviews, skype interviews

A week after I accepted naviHealth’s offer, another company I interviewed with reached out to give me some “feedback” on how my interview went, so I’m assuming they were going to give me an offer, but naviHealth was my number one pick and had everything I was looking for, so I accepted their offer as soon as it was presented to me

What was your decision making process when it came to accepting your current position?

My biggest requirement was being able to work somewhere that I would be able to learn and grow as much as possible. Being somewhere that I could learn something new everyday and be a part of a team to deliver a product was what I really wanted.

I wanted something that I would be able to build upon all of the stuff I’ve learned over my time at NSS and set myself up for success in my career, and naviHealth seemed like the perfect place to do that

Did you do any networking while you were at NSS? If so, did it come in handy when job hunting post-graduation?

I did. I went to a handful of meetups throughout school. None of them led to my job directly, but I did get good experience with networking and walking up to people I had never met before and start talking to them. That experience came in handy on demo which was 4-ish hours of talking to people

What’s your first week on the job been like? What are you looking forward to in your first few weeks or months?

It’s been great! But there’s been a lot of info to take in. So far it’s been learning more about the company and how they operate, getting to know the everyone and how they do things, as well as learning the basics of angular.

Learning angular is something Im really looking forward to, and I’m really excited to get to know my team and being part of my first real software sprint and writing code to help improve their apps and make a difference

What is your advice to a new NSS graduate looking for a job?

Keep coding even after graduation

While technical knowledge is really important, cultural fit and showing that you’re a problem solver are what employers are looking for in a Jr Dev.

You are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you. Its a conversation and you’ve got to make sure you’re asking the right questions to figure out if this is somewhere you want to get up and go to 5 days a week

]]>In this episode we talk to Jonathan Edwards about final bootcamp projects and presentations, job interviews, and landing your first developer job! Jonathan is a recent graduate of NSS cohort 27. Previously,
Jonathan is a recent graduate of NSS cohort 27. Previously, he received his BS in Communication Advertising from UT Knoxville and moved to Nashville four years ago to pursue music. He developed an interest in web development while working in digital marketing, after which he decided to enroll in NSS’s full stack software bootcamp. He’s a new employee at naviHealth, and we’re talking to him today about what the post-NSS job hunt was like and the process of landing the job.
“Sharpening the Tools”

—————————

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”
Erin:
JavaScript Objects refresher tutorial. And dreaming about JavaScript Objects?
Dave:
Meet-up presentation on Impostor Syndrome – working toward my 2019 goal of submitting a talk to a tech conference.
Jonathan:
Angular tutorials, and finishing a React app

*Shoutouts*
We’d like to give a shoutout to Brandon, our newest patron on Patreon. Thanks so much for your support!

“Opening the Toolbox”
Episode Outline

===============

* Tell us a little bit about your background.

* From Knoxville, TN. Studied Advertising at UT. Moved to Nashville for music

* How did you get interested in web/software development?

* Always had an interest in learning how to code, but kept coming up with reasons as to why I couldn’t do it
* Was looking for ways to grow digital marketing skill-set when I came across web development and web design.
* Took some online classes to teach myself some basics and fell in love with it.
* Decided this is where I belonged and decided to attend NSS to make sure I was learning the right material in the right way

* Can you describe your overall NSS experience? Do you feel adequately prepared for a junior level developer position?

* Absolutely, attending NSS was the best decision I’ve ever made.
* The second half of the course is spent working on teams doing weeklong sprints with planning, standups, retros, etc
* The biggest thing was learning how to learn, because there will always be something new to learn in this field.
* Another big plus of NSS is all of the extra help they give us outside of the classroom, with resume writing, interview prep, etc

* Were there other paths in development that you considered?

* Originally wanted to do more front-end focused work, but after going through the back-end of the course and getting experience with C# .NET, SQL, etc., doing full-stack work is where I see myself longterm. I like different parts about both front-end and back-end development and look forward to using both in my career

* Can you tell us about your capstone projects? What languages/technologies did you learn?

* Front-end capstone written in React using Bloomer and Bulma for styling

* App called progressions, goal is to help beginning guitar players write better-sounding chord progressions
* Users select the key they want to write their song in and are show the 7 different major and minor chords that make up that key
* Users can press keys 1-7 on their keyboard to hear audio of each chord and write a chord progression that will sound good without ever having to pick up an instrument or even know how to play a guitar
* Users then select their 4 chords they want to use to write a song and are shown a chord chart of how to play it on a real guitar.
]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean1:02:06Episode 35 - The Bootcamp Experience: In the Trenches with Lesley Boydhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-35-the-bootcamp-experience-in-the-trenches-with-lesley-boyd/
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 15:00:20 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=514https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-35-the-bootcamp-experience-in-the-trenches-with-lesley-boyd/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-35-the-bootcamp-experience-in-the-trenches-with-lesley-boyd/feed/0In this episode we have a special guest! Lesley Boyd is deep in the thick of her Nashville Software School bootcamp, and is here to talk about her experience. She has a background in corporate roles, from supply chain management and business analyst. In her words, always “on the edge of IT” but she hasContinue reading →In this episode we have a special guest! Lesley Boyd is deep in the thick of her Nashville Software School bootcamp, and is here to talk about her experience. She has a background in corporate roles, from supply chain management and business analyst. In her words, always “on the edge of IT” but she has now taken the plunge and is about 4 months into the NSS program! Welcome Lesley!

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

Erin:

Fixed my website! After finally being contacted by a real person from CloudFlare, they pointed out that I had multiple A records pointing to different IP addresses in my DNS settings, which could cause problems such as the one I was experiencing.

I found an article on Github with different IP addresses (of the host server) that I should point my A records to, and violá, my website resolves successfully.

Dave:

Chugging along with my Angular tutorial, I’ve been learning about building custom Directives and Services and how to use / inject them!

Today we’re talking with Lesley Boyd about her experience at Nashville Software School’s bootcamp. We’ll discuss her decision to go into the bootcamp, things she’s learning, and challenges she has faced, and her aspirations after the program is finished.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

How did you get interested in web/software development?

Can you tell us about how you made the decision to go to NSS?

Were there other paths in development that you considered?

You’ve completed the front end segment, right? Can you tell us about your capstone project?

Tell us about your cohort, is it a tight knit group, or …? Are a lot of them in the same career phase as you, or is it varied?

How does it break down in terms of solo work, group work, access to instructors?

What are you most excited about the bootcamp? Anything you’re worried or apprehensive about?

Do you have a sense of the kind of role you’re interested in after you complete the program? Front-end? Back-end? UX/UI Design? Web / mobile?

Have you thought about what kind of industry you want to work in? Fin-tech, healthcare, building websites for an agency, etc.

Is there anything you wish you had known about the program before you started?

]]>In this episode we have a special guest! Lesley Boyd is deep in the thick of her Nashville Software School bootcamp, and is here to talk about her experience. She has a background in corporate roles, from supply chain management and business analyst.
“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”
Erin:
Fixed my website! After finally being contacted by a real person from CloudFlare, they pointed out that I had multiple A records pointing to different IP addresses in my DNS settings, which could cause problems such as the one I was experiencing.
I found an article on Github with different IP addresses (of the host server) that I should point my A records to, and violá, my website resolves successfully.
Dave:
Chugging along with my Angular tutorial, I’ve been learning about building custom Directives and Services and how to use / inject them!

Today we’re talking with Lesley Boyd about her experience at Nashville Software School’s bootcamp. We’ll discuss her decision to go into the bootcamp, things she’s learning, and challenges she has faced, and her aspirations after the program is finished.

* Tell us a little bit about your background.
* How did you get interested in web/software development?
* Can you tell us about how you made the decision to go to NSS?
* Were there other paths in development that you considered?
* You’ve completed the front end segment, right? Can you tell us about your capstone project?
* Tell us about your cohort, is it a tight knit group, or …? Are a lot of them in the same career phase as you, or is it varied?
* How does it break down in terms of solo work, group work, access to instructors?
* What are you most excited about the bootcamp? Anything you’re worried or apprehensive about?
* Do you have a sense of the kind of role you’re interested in after you complete the program? Front-end? Back-end? UX/UI Design? Web / mobile?
* Have you thought about what kind of industry you want to work in? Fin-tech, healthcare, building websites for an agency, etc.
* Is there anything you wish you had known about the program before you started?
* Any other goals or things you hope to learn in the program?

Enjoy the podcast? Consider supporting our work by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. Every little bit helps cover our basic expenses and keep the show going.
You can also donate to our JDT PayPal page.

Today we’re talking with Sarah Weatherbee about her decision to attend Nashville Software School’s bootcamp. We’ll discuss her thought process, pre work and preparation, and how it’s going for her so far. Questions we ask:

Tell us a little bit about your background.

How did you get interested in web/software development?

Can you tell us about the Nashville Software School Jumpstart you did, and how the experience was for you?

You’re starting the full time evening program at NSS very soon, right? What process did you go through for making the decision?

Were there other paths in development that you considered?

Can we ask about the tuition for the program? How did that affect your decision? (Opportunity Tuition Program)

How is your pre work coming? Did your jumpstart help with this, or are you learning anything new?

What are you most excited about the bootcamp? Anything you’re worried or apprehensive about?

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking about the planning that goes into attending a software bootcamp, comparing different programs, and factors in making the right decision. We have a special guest today, Sarah Weatherbee is here to talk about her experien...

In this episode we’ll be talking about the planning that goes into attending a software bootcamp, comparing different programs, and factors in making the right decision.

We have a special guest today, Sarah Weatherbee is here to talk about her experience with the Nashville Software School Jumpstart program. Sarah has a background in journalism, which she obtained while studying and working abroad in Beirut, Lebanon. We met through discussing her interest in podcasting, and discovered she was attending NSS’s Jumpstart program at time.

Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.

“Opening the Toolbox” (main episode)
Today we’re talking with Sarah Weatherbee about her decision to attend Nashville Software School’s bootcamp. We’ll discuss her thought process, pre work and preparation, and how it’s going for her so far. Questions we ask:

Tell us a little bit about your background.
How did you get interested in web/software development?
Can you tell us about the Nashville Software School Jumpstart you did, and how the experience was for you?
You’re starting the full time evening program at NSS very soon, right? What process did you go through for making the decision?
Were there other paths in development that you considered?
Can we ask about the tuition for the program? How did that affect your decision? (Opportunity Tuition Program)
How is your pre work coming? Did your jumpstart help with this, or are you learning anything new?
What are you most excited about the bootcamp? Anything you’re worried or apprehensive about?
Any other goals or things you hope to learn in the program?

]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean38:43Episode 33 - Making Goals, and Checking Them Twice with Corey Grosshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-33-making-goals-and-checking-them-twice-with-corey-gross/
Tue, 01 Jan 2019 21:51:24 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=498https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-33-making-goals-and-checking-them-twice-with-corey-gross/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-33-making-goals-and-checking-them-twice-with-corey-gross/feed/0In this episode we’ll be talking with Corey Gross about setting goals for the new year, and reviewing some goals we set this time last year, and discussing how we did! “‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we areContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be talking with Corey Gross about setting goals for the new year, and reviewing some goals we set this time last year, and discussing how we did!

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”————–

Erin:

Looking into SSL certificates and why the one for my personal site has been having issues. Learning about CloudFlare to see if it’s a viable option/solution.

Dave:

Web Application Security class at work – learning about OWASP Top Ten vulnerabilities.

Corey Gross is a web developer, tabletop gamer, Nintendo Switch evangelist, and Former Professional Nuisance to Dave Harned. He studied English Literature and Writing at the University of Pittsburgh, but immediately pivoted to web development within a year. He later earned a degree in Software Development from Bellevue University in Omaha, Nebraska while working his first dev job at a leading creative agency. Hopping from city to city, Corey’s currently back in his home town and working as a web developer in Philadelphia. Welcome to the show Corey!

Anything else our listeners should know about you?

I’ve invited Corey on the show to talk about a big audacious goal that he’s set for 2019, but before we get into that … Happy New Year everyone! As it happens this episode will be dropping on New Years Day, 2019! We hope you all had a safe and joyful holiday season, and now it’s time again to look ahead at a brand new year.

Let’s take a look and discuss goals we set last year (Episode 7 – wow!). How did we do?

Erin:

Landing a new job by the end of January 2018

Accepted my current job shortly after New Year’s and started on January 19th

Moving out of parent’s house (within 6 months of new job)

Moved out within 9 months of starting the job, but I started looking to buy a house around 6 months after starting the job

I’m still currently halfway through the track. I got distracted in learning other things and completing other courses

Dave:

Dive deeper into Angular”

Although I have done a lot of Angular development this year, did I meet my goal? Not sure it was well defined – not specific or measurable

Achieve work goals / deliverables

I did meet my work goals, and at performance review received an “exceeds expectations” ranking

Podcast Goals:

Starting to bring guests on the show

Wider range of content

SMART Goal Characteristics:

S – Specific (or Significant).

M – Measurable (or Meaningful).

A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented).

R – Relevant (or Rewarding).

T – Time-bound (or Trackable).

What are some new goals we have for 2019?

Corey set a “big hairy goal for 2019, let’s discuss! Corey, can you tell us a little bit about your plans?

I’m starting my own web agency with a buddy of mine from high school – one of the two Best Men at my wedding. We’re looking to do web design and development work in the Greater Philadelphia area. I’ve picked up a good bit of experience, some solid tips and tricks from several stints in the industry, and we’re ready to put our own spin on the creative agency.

Erin:

Earn a raise and/or promotion by the end of 2019

First step is to talk to my supervisor about how my role has changed over the past year and why I deserve a raise, if one doesn’t come up by annual review time; possibly provide similar salary estimates for similar positions from Glassdoor etc. Although this may be challenging since I’m in a unique role.

In the meantime, look into ways of earning at least $100 of extra income per month

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking with Corey Gross about setting goals for the new year, and reviewing some goals we set this time last year, and discussing how we did! “‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re...
“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”————–
Erin:
Looking into SSL certificates and why the one for my personal site has been having issues. Learning about CloudFlare to see if it’s a viable option/solution.
Dave:
Web Application Security class at work – learning about OWASP Top Ten vulnerabilities.OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities on Treehouse
Corey:
Wes Bos ES6 For Everyone, Learn Node refresher (Webpack and Passport, really)Syntax – Web Bos & Scott Tolinski’s podcast

“Opening the Toolbox”
Guest Intro:
Corey Gross is a web developer, tabletop gamer, Nintendo Switch evangelist, and Former Professional Nuisance to Dave Harned. He studied English Literature and Writing at the University of Pittsburgh, but immediately pivoted to web development within a year. He later earned a degree in Software Development from Bellevue University in Omaha, Nebraska while working his first dev job at a leading creative agency. Hopping from city to city, Corey’s currently back in his home town and working as a web developer in Philadelphia. Welcome to the show Corey!
Anything else our listeners should know about you?
I’ve invited Corey on the show to talk about a big audacious goal that he’s set for 2019, but before we get into that … Happy New Year everyone! As it happens this episode will be dropping on New Years Day, 2019! We hope you all had a safe and joyful holiday season, and now it’s time again to look ahead at a brand new year.

Let’s take a look and discuss goals we set last year (Episode 7 – wow!). How did we do?

Erin:

* Landing a new job by the end of January 2018

* ✅Accepted my current job shortly after New Year’s and started on January 19th

* Moving out of parent’s house (within 6 months of new job)

* ✅Moved out within 9 months of starting the job, but I started looking to buy a house around 6 months after starting the job

What are some new goals we have for 2019?
Corey set a “big hairy goal for 2019, let’s discuss! Corey, can you tell us a little bit about your plans?
I’m starting my own web agency with a buddy of mine from high school – one of the two Best Men at my wedding. We’re looking to do web design and development work in the Greater Phi...]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean40:33Episode 32 - Exploring Quality Assurance with Peggy Sturmanhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-32-exploring-quality-assurance-with-peggy-sturman/
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 23:46:00 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=490https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-32-exploring-quality-assurance-with-peggy-sturman/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-32-exploring-quality-assurance-with-peggy-sturman/feed/1In this episode we’ll be talking about the QA role on an agile team, skills and knowledge beneficial to this role, and how developers and QA can work together collaboratively. Today we’re happy to welcome Peggy Sturman to the show. Peggy has been a long time listener and supporter of the show. We met herContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be talking about the QA role on an agile team, skills and knowledge beneficial to this role, and how developers and QA can work together collaboratively.

Today we’re happy to welcome Peggy Sturman to the show. Peggy has been a long time listener and supporter of the show. We met her through our Slack channel where we often have discussions around technologies we’re learning, career and interview advice, and thoughts about the field in general. She has nearly two decades of Quality Assurance experience and is currently learning about software development and coding in her free time.

Welcome to the show Peggy! Is there anything else you’d like our listeners to know about you?

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

===============

If you were to describe Quality Assurance in an elevator pitch, how would you describe it?

Quality Assessment, trying to break the application

Did you have any formal education to prepare you for working in QA? If so, did you feel adequately prepared for your first QA role?

Can you take us through a typical day as a QA Engineer?

What technologies and tools do you use?

What’s the structure at your job? Are you doing QA for multiple teams / projects?

What allows your team members/software developers to help you do you your job effectively?

You’ve talked about learning to code in your free time, what languages and frameworks are you learning? How are they coming along?

Do you feel that your QA experience helps when learning code, and / or does learning code help with your QA role?

Black box testing – also known as Behavioral Testing, is a software testing method in which the internal structure/design/implementation of the item being tested is not known to the tester. These tests can be functional or non-functional, though usually functional. http://softwaretestingfundamentals.com/black-box-testing/

Smoke testing – also known as “Build Verification Testing”, is a type of software testing that comprises of a non-exhaustive set of tests that aim at ensuring that the most important functions work. The result of this testing is used to decide if a build is stable enough to proceed with further testing. http://softwaretestingfundamentals.com/smoke-testing/

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking about the QA role on an agile team, skills and knowledge beneficial to this role, and how developers and QA can work together collaboratively. Today we’re happy to welcome Peggy Sturman to the show.
Today we’re happy to welcome Peggy Sturman to the show. Peggy has been a long time listener and supporter of the show. We met her through our Slack channel where we often have discussions around technologies we’re learning, career and interview advice, and thoughts about the field in general. She has nearly two decades of Quality Assurance experience and is currently learning about software development and coding in her free time.
Welcome to the show Peggy! Is there anything else you’d like our listeners to know about you?

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”
===============

* If you were to describe Quality Assurance in an elevator pitch, how would you describe it?

* Quality Assessment, trying to break the application

* Did you have any formal education to prepare you for working in QA? If so, did you feel adequately prepared for your first QA role?
* Can you take us through a typical day as a QA Engineer?
* What technologies and tools do you use?
* What’s the structure at your job? Are you doing QA for multiple teams / projects?
* What allows your team members/software developers to help you do you your job effectively?
* You’ve talked about learning to code in your free time, what languages and frameworks are you learning? How are they coming along?
* Do you feel that your QA experience helps when learning code, and / or does learning code help with your QA role?

* Black box testing – also known as Behavioral Testing, is a software testing method in which the internal structure/design/implementation of the item being tested is not known to the tester. These tests can be functional or non-functional, though usually functional. http://softwaretestingfundamentals.com/black-box-testing/
* Smoke testing – also known as “Build Verification Testing”, is a type of software testing that comprises of a non-exhaustive set of tests that aim at ensuring that the most important functions work. The result of this testing is used to decide if a build is stable enough to proceed with further testing. http://softwaretestingfundamentals.com/smoke-testing/
* Regression testing – s the process of testing changes to computer programs to make sure that the older programming still works with the new changes. Regression testing is a normal part of the program development process and, in larger companies, is done by code testing specialists. https://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/regression-testing

* What would you tell someone interested in learning about or exploring Quality Assurance? Are there certifications you can get? Recommended resources?

You can reach us at helloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean49:58Episode 31 – Exploring Information Security with Alon Diamant-Cohenhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-31-exploring-information-security-with-alon-diamant-cohen/
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 19:21:19 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=483https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-31-exploring-information-security-with-alon-diamant-cohen/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-31-exploring-information-security-with-alon-diamant-cohen/feed/0In this episode we’ll be discussing Alon’s role as a Security Service Delivery Lead, how he applies digital anthropology to his job, and security issues facing companies and developers. Alon’s IT career spans academic, start-up, and corporate environments. His experience ranges from software development, qualitative analysis, CRM design, building platforms, Security Operations, automation and projectContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be discussing Alon’s role as a Security Service Delivery Lead, how he applies digital anthropology to his job, and security issues facing companies and developers.

Alon’s IT career spans academic, start-up, and corporate environments. His experience ranges from software development, qualitative analysis, CRM design, building platforms, Security Operations, automation and project management. He is currently a Security Service Delivery Lead here in Nashville and was recently married!

Welcome Alon!

“Sharpening the Tools” – the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development

“Opening the Toolbox”

Episode Outline
===============

Let’s start by getting into what you do. What would be your elevator pitch, to describe Information Security? Your current role?

Can you walk us through a typical day at your job?

On your website you describe yourself as a ‘digital anthropologist’ … what does that mean, and how does it relate to what you do?

You mentioned computer to human interaction – let’s get into what that means

What kind of additional education, certifications, or training have you done?

How much do you interact with code in this position? What technologies and tools have you used?

Tell us something you *don’t* particularly enjoy about your job or something you would like to improve?

What’s something you wish you knew before starting your current role?

What are some things Jr Developers should know or be aware of regarding security and infrastructure?

What advice would you give someone wanting to go in this career direction?

]]>In this episode we’ll be discussing Alon’s role as a Security Service Delivery Lead, how he applies digital anthropology to his job, and security issues facing companies and developers. Alon’s IT career spans academic, start-up,
Alon’s IT career spans academic, start-up, and corporate environments. His experience ranges from software development, qualitative analysis, CRM design, building platforms, Security Operations, automation and project management. He is currently a Security Service Delivery Lead here in Nashville and was recently married!
Welcome Alon!

“Sharpening the Tools” – the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development

“Opening the Toolbox”
Episode Outline

===============

* Let’s start by getting into what you do. What would be your elevator pitch, to describe Information Security? Your current role?
* Can you walk us through a typical day at your job?
* On your website you describe yourself as a ‘digital anthropologist’ … what does that mean, and how does it relate to what you do?
* You mentioned computer to human interaction – let’s get into what that means
* What kind of additional education, certifications, or training have you done?
* How much do you interact with code in this position? What technologies and tools have you used?
* Tell us something you *don’t* particularly enjoy about your job or something you would like to improve?
* What’s something you wish you knew before starting your current role?
* What are some things Jr Developers should know or be aware of regarding security and infrastructure?
* What advice would you give someone wanting to go in this career direction?

www.juniordevelopertoolbox.com]]>Erin Orstrom & Dave Harnedclean57:51Episode 30 - Hiring Junior Developers with Dan Weesehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-30-hiring-junior-developers-with-dan-weese/
Tue, 20 Nov 2018 23:52:27 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=476https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-30-hiring-junior-developers-with-dan-weese/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-30-hiring-junior-developers-with-dan-weese/feed/0In this episode we’ll be talking with Dan Weese about his perspective on interviewing and assessing developer candidates, and building strong teams. ‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.” Sharpening the ToolsContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be talking with Dan Weese about his perspective on interviewing and assessing developer candidates, and building strong teams.

‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

Sharpening the Tools
————–

Erin:

Continuing with Docker and starting with ElasticSearch!

Dave:

Shifting gears with containers … also, 64 bit encoded strings!

Dan:

“Opening the Toolbox”

Episode Outline
===============

Today we welcome Dan Weese to the show to discuss a Hiring Manager’s perspective on hiring junior developers.

Dan is Software Development Manager with over 20 years in software application development, including 14 years in healthcare, 12 years in commercial software, 10 years in Supply Chain Management and Warehouse Distribution, and 10 years in operations. (By my math some of those experiences must overlap, since added together that’s 46 years of experience!)

He is self-taught in 4 programming languages. While Dan’s degree is in Audio Engineering, his skills have led him to become a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, and Certified Scrum Professional.

Dan’s unconventional entry into the IT community gives him a unique perspective on hiring and he’s been able to take several people with skills outside of IT and apply them towards a successful career in the technology sector.

What do you look for when hiring junior developers? Particular skills? How much proficiency in those skills? Demonstrating a drive to learn etc.?

Job descriptions often vary and are unclear between whether they are entry level or “junior level”, so junior can mean anything from it’s your first job up to I’ve seen 5 years of experience preferred. How do you evaluate junior developer skills?

When you write a job description, how many of the skills listed are you expecting your candidates to meet? What’s your advice for juniors applying for junior-level positions?

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking with Dan Weese about his perspective on interviewing and assessing developer candidates, and building strong teams. ‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using,
‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”
Sharpening the Tools

===============
Today we welcome Dan Weese to the show to discuss a Hiring Manager’s perspective on hiring junior developers.
Dan is Software Development Manager with over 20 years in software application development, including 14 years in healthcare, 12 years in commercial software, 10 years in Supply Chain Management and Warehouse Distribution, and 10 years in operations. (By my math some of those experiences must overlap, since added together that’s 46 years of experience!)
He is self-taught in 4 programming languages. While Dan’s degree is in Audio Engineering, his skills have led him to become a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, and Certified Scrum Professional.
Dan’s unconventional entry into the IT community gives him a unique perspective on hiring and he’s been able to take several people with skills outside of IT and apply them towards a successful career in the technology sector.

* What do you look for when hiring junior developers? Particular skills? How much proficiency in those skills? Demonstrating a drive to learn etc.?
* Job descriptions often vary and are unclear between whether they are entry level or “junior level”, so junior can mean anything from it’s your first job up to I’ve seen 5 years of experience preferred. How do you evaluate junior developer skills?
* When you write a job description, how many of the skills listed are you expecting your candidates to meet? What’s your advice for juniors applying for junior-level positions?
* What differences do you notice in education background? Traditional CS degree vs. software bootcamp vs. self taught?
* How do you typically interview a junior? Do you give them a whiteboard or take home coding test? How effective do you think those methods are?
* How do you come up with interview questions?
* What non-technical skills are you looking for in an interview?
* What are some things you can’t tell about a person from an interview, that you only learn on the job?
* One of our listeners wants to know, how should they dress for an interview, especially in a casual workplace? Is it weird if the interviewee is overdressed compared to everyone else?
* When you’re reviewing a lot of resumes, what are you looking for? What makes someone stand out?
* Are cover letters still a thing? Does the email you’re attaching the resume to suffice, or do you appreciate a formal, separate letter?
* Final words of wisdom for junior developers applying and interviewing for jobs?

You can reach us at helloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.com
Facebook: Junior Developer Toolbox
Twitter: @JrDevToolbox
Instagram: JuniorDeveloperToolboxwww.juniordevelopertoolbox.com]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean56:46Episode 29 - Jr. Dev Self Care, Part 2https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-29-jr-dev-self-care-part-2/
Tue, 06 Nov 2018 15:05:44 +0000https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=470https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-29-jr-dev-self-care-part-2/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-29-jr-dev-self-care-part-2/feed/0In this episode we’ll be talking about giving your brain a break! We’ll touch on strategies for recovering from mentally taxing work, and the importance of taking time for ourselves. “‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuingContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be talking about giving your brain a break! We’ll touch on strategies for recovering from mentally taxing work, and the importance of taking time for ourselves.

“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”

“Sharpening the Tools”
————–

Erin:
More Docker. How it differs from virtual machines. The Dockerfile is the config file for managing images and containers. Etc.

Dave:
Docker docker docker! Went to EEConf and learned some exciting news. Also had a Docker workshop that was interesting, now I’m trying to figure out some other ways to set up and use docker

“Opening the Toolbox” (20 – 30 mins)

Episode Outline
===============

Today we’re going to be discussing the importance of taking time to care for yourself. In episode 25 we discussed physical ways to take care of yourself while you’re working – today we’re going to continue that theme in a more general mental way.

Disclaimer: We’re not doctors! Anything discussed here represents our opinions, and shouldn’t take the place of real medical advice.

Mentally taxing work / Burnout

Ways to give your mind a break:

Meditation / yoga

Unplugging! (camping?)

Take a bath

Go for a walk or a hike

A hobby – woodworking or other arts & crafts

Whatever works for you and makes you feel relaxed or re-energized

Why is it so important to take time for ourselves?

Diffuse thinking – mentioned way back in Episode 5 – The N00b Never Stops

Mental fatigue – some days you just feel like your brain is fried

“Mental health days” – mini vacations, long weekends

Vacation – widely considered to be good for your health, reducing stress, etc

Not everyone gets this perk. Contractors / freelance may have a harder time

Not everyone TAKES this perk. Places with unlimited vacay show people use less

Tends to delay stress. Slammed when you get back, playing catch up, reduces the benefit by injecting all that stress back

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking about giving your brain a break! We’ll touch on strategies for recovering from mentally taxing work, and the importance of taking time for ourselves. “‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss w...
“‘Sharpening the Tools’ is the section of the show where we discuss what tools we’re using, concepts we’re learning, and generally how we are continuing our learning in software development.”
“Sharpening the Tools”

————–
Erin:

More Docker. How it differs from virtual machines. The Dockerfile is the config file for managing images and containers. Etc.
Dave:

Docker docker docker! Went to EEConf and learned some exciting news. Also had a Docker workshop that was interesting, now I’m trying to figure out some other ways to set up and use docker
“Opening the Toolbox” (20 – 30 mins)
Episode Outline

===============
Today we’re going to be discussing the importance of taking time to care for yourself. In episode 25 we discussed physical ways to take care of yourself while you’re working – today we’re going to continue that theme in a more general mental way.
Disclaimer: We’re not doctors! Anything discussed here represents our opinions, and shouldn’t take the place of real medical advice.
Mentally taxing work / Burnout
Ways to give your mind a break:

* Meditation / yoga
* Unplugging! (camping?)
* Take a bath
* Go for a walk or a hike
* A hobby – woodworking or other arts & crafts
* Whatever works for you and makes you feel relaxed or re-energized

Why is it so important to take time for ourselves?

* Diffuse thinking – mentioned way back in Episode 5 – The N00b Never Stops
* Mental fatigue – some days you just feel like your brain is fried
* “Mental health days” – mini vacations, long weekends
* Vacation – widely considered to be good for your health, reducing stress, etc

* Not everyone gets this perk. Contractors / freelance may have a harder time
* Not everyone TAKES this perk. Places with unlimited vacay show people use less
* Tends to delay stress. Slammed when you get back, playing catch up, reduces the benefit by injecting all that stress back

How could we better plan for a relaxing break?

You can reach us at helloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.com

Facebook: Junior Developer Toolbox

Twitter: @JrDevToolbox

Instagram: JuniorDeveloperToolbox
www.juniordevelopertoolbox.com]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean41:25Episode 28 - Masters of the Scrumiverse with Becca Hillerhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-28-masters-of-the-scrumiverse-with-becca-hiller/
Tue, 23 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=454https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-28-masters-of-the-scrumiverse-with-becca-hiller/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-28-masters-of-the-scrumiverse-with-becca-hiller/feed/0In this episode we’re diving deeper into Agile and Scrum, and continuing our exploration of various tech roles. We’ll have a chat with Becca Hiller about what she does as a Scrum Master. We’re excited to introduce a special guest on this episode: Becca Hiller has worked as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Project Manager,Continue reading →In this episode we’re diving deeper into Agile and Scrum, and continuing our exploration of various tech roles. We’ll have a chat with Becca Hiller about what she does as a Scrum Master.

We’re excited to introduce a special guest on this episode: Becca Hiller has worked as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Project Manager, and is generally responsible for keeping her teams working smoothly and productively!

So, we recently did an episode about Scrum on Junior Developer Toolbox, and discussed that a lot of companies do Scrum differently. Let’s get ask someone who does this every day! We’ll ask

Can you walk us through a typical day?

What drew you to this kind of role?

What kind of education prepared you well for this role?

What’s something you don’t enjoy about your job?

What would you tell someone interested in pursuing this kind of role?

Thanks very much to Becca for taking the time to talk with us! She mentioned some excellent resources for learning more about Scrum and Scrum Mastery …

]]>In this episode we’re diving deeper into Agile and Scrum, and continuing our exploration of various tech roles. We’ll have a chat with Becca Hiller about what she does as a Scrum Master. We’re excited to introduce a special guest on this episode: Becca...
We’re excited to introduce a special guest on this episode: Becca Hiller has worked as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Project Manager, and is generally responsible for keeping her teams working smoothly and productively!
So, we recently did an episode about Scrum on Junior Developer Toolbox, and discussed that a lot of companies do Scrum differently. Let’s get ask someone who does this every day! We’ll ask

Can you walk us through a typical day?
What drew you to this kind of role?
What kind of education prepared you well for this role?
What’s something you don’t enjoy about your job?
What would you tell someone interested in pursuing this kind of role?

You can reach us at helloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.com
Facebook: Junior Developer Toolbox
Twitter: @JrDevToolbox
Instagram: JuniorDeveloperToolbox]]>Erin Orstrom & Dave Harnedclean1:00:31Episode 27 - What Is Scrum? Baby Don't Hurt Mehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-27-what-is-scrum-baby-dont-hurt-me/
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 22:23:29 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=448https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-27-what-is-scrum-baby-dont-hurt-me/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-27-what-is-scrum-baby-dont-hurt-me/feed/0Today we’ll be talking about Scrum! We explore roles, ceremonies, and more! We’ll discuss the agile manifesto and our experience working with this project management style. “Sharpening the Tools” Erin: I honestly haven’t had a whole lot of time the past few weeks between moving and taking care of house stuff to do a lotContinue reading →Today we’ll be talking about Scrum! We explore roles, ceremonies, and more! We’ll discuss the agile manifesto and our experience working with this project management style.

“Sharpening the Tools”

Erin:

I honestly haven’t had a whole lot of time the past few weeks between moving and taking care of house stuff to do a lot of extra learning. But at work I’m going to be presenting to my team this Thursday on Session Management, as that played a huge part in an issue we spent months researching and trying to figure out.

Dave:

Algorithms! At my local meetup group we worked through some of the algorithm challenges as a group. In preparing for that, I revisited some of the FCC challenges I had completed a year or two ago, and tried to see if I could do them more efficiently.

“Opening the Toolbox”

What is SCRUM?

SCRUM is usually defined as “An Agile framework of managing a project, usually related to software development”

]]>Today we’ll be talking about Scrum! We explore roles, ceremonies, and more! We’ll discuss the agile manifesto and our experience working with this project management style. “Sharpening the Tools” Erin: I honestly haven’t had a whole lot of time the pas...
“Sharpening the Tools”
Erin:
I honestly haven’t had a whole lot of time the past few weeks between moving and taking care of house stuff to do a lot of extra learning. But at work I’m going to be presenting to my team this Thursday on Session Management, as that played a huge part in an issue we spent months researching and trying to figure out.
Dave:
Algorithms! At my local meetup group we worked through some of the algorithm challenges as a group. In preparing for that, I revisited some of the FCC challenges I had completed a year or two ago, and tried to see if I could do them more efficiently.

“Opening the Toolbox”
What is SCRUM?
SCRUM is usually defined as “An Agile framework of managing a project, usually related to software development”
*Fun Fact about where the name came from. It’s a rugby term and “is used as a metaphor to reflect the degree of cooperation needed to succeed” and to emphasize teamwork. (https://agilecoachjacque.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/why-the-name-scrum/)

What is Agile? And how does it related to SCRUM practices?

* Agile Manifesto:

We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:

* Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
* Working software over comprehensive documentation
* Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
* Responding to change over following a plan

==========http://scrummethodology.com/http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean1:03:01Episode 26 - Finding Your Voicehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-26-finding-your-voice/
Wed, 26 Sep 2018 00:34:42 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=438https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-26-finding-your-voice/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-26-finding-your-voice/feed/0Today we’ll be talking LIVE for our anniversary episode, and leading a discussion with developers about impostor syndrome, and finding ways to contribute to the tech community. “Sharpening the Tools” Erin: Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve mentioned an Application Performance Management tool called New Relic on the show that we’ve been working withContinue reading →
Today we’ll be talking LIVE for our anniversary episode, and leading a discussion with developers about impostor syndrome, and finding ways to contribute to the tech community.

“Sharpening the Tools”

Erin: Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve mentioned an Application Performance Management tool called New Relic on the show that we’ve been working with at work. Last Thursday I gave an overview presentation of what the tools is and some of the different metrics it measures within our applications. This past Thursday I lead an interactive deep dive session into the tool and explained how our team has been using various features and how we use it to debug performance issues we encounter.

Dave: This past week I was asked to be an interviewer, and I’m not used to being on that side of the desk. We are backfilling my old position, so I am there to ask technical questions. I even prepared a whiteboard test, and was second-guessing myself the whole time – was it too hard? Too easy? Did it really help me assess the candidate’s understanding? It was a bit nerve wracking but interesting to be in that role.

“Opening the Toolbox”

Episode Outline
===============

Intro and Overview

Who we are; recording live and publishing on 9/25/2018

Where we are: Nashville Software School NSS Alumni Pro Dev Workshop

Topic Preview – how to overcome impostor syndrome and find your voice as a junior developer.

Sharpening the Tools

Erin: New Relic

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve mentioned an Application Performance Management tool called New Relic on the show that we’ve been working with at work. Last Thursday I gave an overview presentation of what the tools is and some of the different metrics it measures within our applications. This past Thursday I lead an interactive deep dive session into the tool and explained how our team has been using various features and how we use it to debug performance issues we encounter.

Dave: giving interview

*** Does anyone want to share something new they’ve learned?

Impostor Syndrome

Listen back to #4

You’ve heard of it, but what is it really?

Symptoms

Everyone Gets It

You vs. You

*** How has impostor syndrome manifested for you?
*** What has it prevented you from doing?

Strategies

The Artist’s Way (***anyone read it?) – Judge / Fake it Til You Make It

Radical Hero – fight back! (Luke Solomon)

*** Have you heard this voice? What did you do?

Practice! Iterate

WHAT THE HECK SHOULD I TALK ABOUT???

Natalie Portman …

Past experience

Fresh perspective

You’re an expert in BEING YOU

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” – Dr. Seuss

Your interests

Opportunities to speak up / lead / teach

Contribute ideas at work

Talk at Meetups

Present Conferences

Teach a Class

Publish a blog

Online tutorial

Podcasting!

*** Can anyone think of other ways to share your voice?

Fear of public speaking? How to overcome?

Realize you don’t have to be an expert! Nobody expects you to have all the answers

*** what’s a library or tool you know how to use? How many people here don’t know that?

You will learn more by teaching! Solidify your knowledge by presenting it

Nobody expects you to have all the answers

Bullet points from David Neals’

Wrap it up

Synopsis:

Combating your inner voice

Finding your unique voice

Where and how to not barf

Who’s given a presentation at work? What’d you talk about? Was it the end of the world?

Who’s spoken at a meet up or conference? Published a blog? Did you barf on your shoes?

For all of you who didn’t raise your hand, you now have a convo starter

I’m not going to tell you to give a speech tomorrow, but I will encourage you to ask someone here about how they did it.

]]>Today we’ll be talking LIVE for our anniversary episode, and leading a discussion with developers about impostor syndrome, and finding ways to contribute to the tech community.
“Sharpening the Tools”
Erin: Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve mentioned an Application Performance Management tool called New Relic on the show that we’ve been working with at work. Last Thursday I gave an overview presentation of what the tools is and some of the different metrics it measures within our applications. This past Thursday I lead an interactive deep dive session into the tool and explained how our team has been using various features and how we use it to debug performance issues we encounter.
Dave: This past week I was asked to be an interviewer, and I’m not used to being on that side of the desk. We are backfilling my old position, so I am there to ask technical questions. I even prepared a whiteboard test, and was second-guessing myself the whole time – was it too hard? Too easy? Did it really help me assess the candidate’s understanding? It was a bit nerve wracking but interesting to be in that role.

“Opening the Toolbox”
Episode Outline

===============

* Intro and Overview

* Who we are; recording live and publishing on 9/25/2018
* Where we are: Nashville Software School NSS Alumni Pro Dev Workshop
* Topic Preview – how to overcome impostor syndrome and find your voice as a junior developer.

* Sharpening the Tools

* Erin: New Relic

* Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve mentioned an Application Performance Management tool called New Relic on the show that we’ve been working with at work. Last Thursday I gave an overview presentation of what the tools is and some of the different metrics it measures within our applications. This past Thursday I lead an interactive deep dive session into the tool and explained how our team has been using various features and how we use it to debug performance issues we encounter.

* Realize you don’t have to be an expert! Nobody expects you to have all the answers
* *** what’s a library or tool you know how to use? How many people here don’t know that?
* You will learn more by teaching! Solidify your knowledge by presenting it
* Nobody expects you to have all the answers
* Bullet points from David Neals’

* Wrap it up

* Synopsis:

* Combating your inner voice
]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean55:31Episode 25 - Treat Yourself: Junior Dev Self Care (Part 1)https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-25-treat-yourself-junior-dev-self-care-part-1/
Wed, 12 Sep 2018 00:39:32 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=432https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-25-treat-yourself-junior-dev-self-care-part-1/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-25-treat-yourself-junior-dev-self-care-part-1/feed/0In this episode we be talking about developing good habits to reduce the health strains of a sedentary career. “Sharpening the Tools” ————————— Erin: We’ve been learning more about New Relic at work. New Relic is the leading Software as a Service (SAAS) provider of Application Performance Management and Monitoring Tools. If your application isContinue reading →In this episode we be talking about developing good habits to reduce the health strains of a sedentary career.

“Sharpening the Tools”

—————————

Erin:

We’ve been learning more about New Relic at work. New Relic is the leading Software as a Service (SAAS) provider of Application Performance Management and Monitoring Tools. If your application is running slowly or throwing a lot of errors, New Relic can catch a lot of that and help you know where you need to make improvements. We’re deep diving and learning more about it and we’ll be beginning to train the feature teams on how to use it in the next week or so.

Dave:

Continuing my exploration of game development from the last episode, I found some tutorials about building a clone of old NES type games that I’ve been nerding out about. One in particular showed taking a popular character, and adapting it into creating 16-bit artwork and how to implement them as sprite sheets.

“Opening the Toolbox”

————————–

Today we’re talking about taking time for self care when you’re in a tech field. Constant digital connection and complex problem solving – largely in a sedentary environment – can present some unique strains on us as individuals. It’s important to take care of ourselves both at work and at home, mentally and physically, to keep our performance at an optimal level and to avoid burnout.

Follow up on healthy working setup?

We‘ve touched on some of these ideas before. But personally, this has been important to me as I’ve experienced some issues, just being in my thirties and having a sedentary job …

]]>In this episode we be talking about developing good habits to reduce the health strains of a sedentary career. “Sharpening the Tools” ————————— Erin: We’ve been learning more about New Relic at work. New Relic is the leading Software as a Service (SAAS...
“Sharpening the Tools”
—————————
Erin:
We’ve been learning more about New Relic at work. New Relic is the leading Software as a Service (SAAS) provider of Application Performance Management and Monitoring Tools. If your application is running slowly or throwing a lot of errors, New Relic can catch a lot of that and help you know where you need to make improvements. We’re deep diving and learning more about it and we’ll be beginning to train the feature teams on how to use it in the next week or so.
Dave:
Continuing my exploration of game development from the last episode, I found some tutorials about building a clone of old NES type games that I’ve been nerding out about. One in particular showed taking a popular character, and adapting it into creating 16-bit artwork and how to implement them as sprite sheets.

“Opening the Toolbox”
————————–
Today we’re talking about taking time for self care when you’re in a tech field. Constant digital connection and complex problem solving – largely in a sedentary environment – can present some unique strains on us as individuals. It’s important to take care of ourselves both at work and at home, mentally and physically, to keep our performance at an optimal level and to avoid burnout.

Follow up on healthy working setup?

We‘ve touched on some of these ideas before. But personally, this has been important to me as I’ve experienced some issues, just being in my thirties and having a sedentary job …

You can reach us at helloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.com
Facebook: Junior Developer Toolbox
Twitter: @JrDevToolbox
Instagram: JuniorDeveloperToolbox]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean51:21Episode 24 - Head In the Cloud: DevOps with Ryan Tanayhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-24-head-in-the-cloud-devops-with-ryan-tanay/
Tue, 28 Aug 2018 23:04:08 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=424https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-24-head-in-the-cloud-devops-with-ryan-tanay/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-24-head-in-the-cloud-devops-with-ryan-tanay/feed/0We’re excited to introduce a special guest on this episode: Ryan Tanay has background in digital art, networking, and server administration. He is Nashville Software School graduate and now works as a DevOps engineer here in Nashville. We thought he’d be the perfect person to ask, “what is DevOps anyway?” Sharpening the Tools: Erin goesContinue reading →We’re excited to introduce a special guest on this episode: Ryan Tanay has background in digital art, networking, and server administration. He is Nashville Software School graduate and now works as a DevOps engineer here in Nashville. We thought he’d be the perfect person to ask, “what is DevOps anyway?”

Sharpening the Tools:

Erin goes down a rabbit hole trying to figure out how to set up SQL Operations Studio and a Docker image of SSMS 2017 on her Mac.

Dave goes down his own rabbit hole playing around with coding a fight emulator based off original Final Fantasy game logic.

Ryan has fun setting up AWS Cloud Formations at work.

I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding around what DevOps is, and I think there’s a great deal of variance from company to company. We sit down with Ryan Tanay to explore exactly what he does. Find out why he calls it “the code behind the code.” We’ll also ask:

Were you looking for this type of role specifically, after graduating NSS?

Did you feel your education prepared you well for this type of role?

Can you take us through a typical day as a DevOps engineer?

What technologies do you use?

What allows your team members to help you do you your job effectively?

What would you tell someone interested in learning about or exploring DevOps?

]]>We’re excited to introduce a special guest on this episode: Ryan Tanay has background in digital art, networking, and server administration. He is Nashville Software School graduate and now works as a DevOps engineer here in Nashville.
Sharpening the Tools:
Erin goes down a rabbit hole trying to figure out how to set up SQL Operations Studio and a Docker image of SSMS 2017 on her Mac.
Dave goes down his own rabbit hole playing around with coding a fight emulator based off original Final Fantasy game logic.
Ryan has fun setting up AWS Cloud Formations at work.

I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding around what DevOps is, and I think there’s a great deal of variance from company to company. We sit down with Ryan Tanay to explore exactly what he does. Find out why he calls it “the code behind the code.” We’ll also ask:
Were you looking for this type of role specifically, after graduating NSS?
Did you feel your education prepared you well for this type of role?
Can you take us through a typical day as a DevOps engineer?
What technologies do you use?
What allows your team members to help you do you your job effectively?
What would you tell someone interested in learning about or exploring DevOps?
What’s something you wish you knew before starting this role?
Find Ryan on Twitter @ryantanay
Extra Links
Nashville DevOps Meetup:https://www.meetup.com/NashDevOps/]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean33:52Episode 23 - To Bootcamp? Or Not to Bootcamp?https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-23-to-bootcamp-or-not-to-bootcamp/
Wed, 15 Aug 2018 04:14:59 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=408https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-23-to-bootcamp-or-not-to-bootcamp/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-23-to-bootcamp-or-not-to-bootcamp/feed/1This is Episode Number 23 “To Bootcamp? Or Not to Bootcamp?”. Today we’ll be talking about advantages and disadvantages of software bootcamp programs and different considerations in your decision on whether a bootcamp program is right for you. This week on “Sharpening the Tools” Erin: Started to go back through the ASP.NET courses on TreehouseContinue reading →This is Episode Number 23 “To Bootcamp? Or Not to Bootcamp?”. Today we’ll be talking about advantages and disadvantages of software bootcamp programs and different considerations in your decision on whether a bootcamp program is right for you.

This week on “Sharpening the Tools”

Erin:

Started to go back through the ASP.NET courses on Treehouse and finishing those up. I have Entity Framework and MVC, services, and Authentication topics left.

Dave:

I’ve also been working on an ASP.NET Core tutorial. Windows env setup, etc etc.

“Opening the Toolbox” (20 – 30 mins)

===============

Today we’re talking about software bootcamp programs. Weighing their advantages and disadvantages, and discussing considerations you should account for when deciding whether a software bootcamp is the right learning route for you. And if it is, how to decide on one?

Bootcamps:

Pros:

Structured learning (curriculum)

In-person help and support from experienced professionals

Usually less expensive than a 4 year degree and takes less time

More hands-on app building experience

Some offer job search support

Cons:

Can be fast paced and overwhelming for someone just starting out “drinking from a firehose”

Time off work, or work full time in addition to part-time learning

Depending on your interests, there may not be a software development program suited for you; many focus on web development, backend, and mobile, but not many offer curriculums for data science, network engineering, security, and the like

Some companies are still skeptical of the time frame and the juniors devs not having enough experience (only 3 months to 1 year)

Considerations:

Bootcamps

generally more hands on application building

curriculums are updated more frequently to keep up with constantly changing technologies

CS degree

more theory, which can potentially help with understanding software architecture, patterns and such

Cost

$10,000-$15,000 on average for a 3 month – 1 year program, vs. $25,000+ (conservative estimate) on 4 year CS degree

Time investment, 3 months, 6 months to 1+ year

Can you afford to take time off work to devote to learning full time for 3-12 months?

Are you willing to commit to learning outside of work if you can’t do a full-time program?

Personal drive and abilities

Personal learning style

Online vs. in person

If you prefer in person support and learning, is there a bootcamp at a location reasonably near you? Are you willing to travel to attend one?

Learn on your own vs. mentorship and guidance

Bottom line: Ask yourself the hard questions for options in your best interests and do your research.

]]>This is Episode Number 23 “To Bootcamp? Or Not to Bootcamp?”. Today we’ll be talking about advantages and disadvantages of software bootcamp programs and different considerations in your decision on whether a bootcamp program is right for you.
This week on “Sharpening the Tools”

Erin:
Started to go back through the ASP.NET courses on Treehouse and finishing those up. I have Entity Framework and MVC, services, and Authentication topics left.
Dave:
I’ve also been working on an ASP.NET Core tutorial. Windows env setup, etc etc.

“Opening the Toolbox” (20 – 30 mins)
===============
Today we’re talking about software bootcamp programs. Weighing their advantages and disadvantages, and discussing considerations you should account for when deciding whether a software bootcamp is the right learning route for you. And if it is, how to decide on one?
Bootcamps:
Pros:

* Structured learning (curriculum)
* In-person help and support from experienced professionals
* Usually less expensive than a 4 year degree and takes less time
* More hands-on app building experience
* Some offer job search support

Cons:

* Can be fast paced and overwhelming for someone just starting out “drinking from a firehose”
* Time off work, or work full time in addition to part-time learning
* Depending on your interests, there may not be a software development program suited for you; many focus on web development, backend, and mobile, but not many offer curriculums for data science, network engineering, security, and the like
* Some companies are still skeptical of the time frame and the juniors devs not having enough experience (only 3 months to 1 year)

Considerations:

* Bootcamps

* generally more hands on application building
* curriculums are updated more frequently to keep up with constantly changing technologies

* CS degree

* more theory, which can potentially help with understanding software architecture, patterns and such

* Cost

* $10,000-$15,000 on average for a 3 month – 1 year program, vs. $25,000+ (conservative estimate) on 4 year CS degree

* Time investment, 3 months, 6 months to 1+ year

* Can you afford to take time off work to devote to learning full time for 3-12 months?
* Are you willing to commit to learning outside of work if you can’t do a full-time program?

* Personal drive and abilities
* Personal learning style

* Online vs. in person

* If you prefer in person support and learning, is there a bootcamp at a location reasonably near you? Are you willing to travel to attend one?

* Learn on your own vs. mentorship and guidance

Bottom line: Ask yourself the hard questions for options in your best interests and do your research.

]]>In this episode, we discuss how we would approach learning to code if we were starting from the beginning. “Sharpening the Tools” ————– Erin: Been digging into Web and Software Security a little bit more using resources from the OWASP Vulnerabilities T...
“Sharpening the Tools”

————–
Erin:
Been digging into Web and Software Security a little bit more using resources from the OWASP Vulnerabilities Treehouse course I talked about last episode. Learning about Cross-site scripting attacks, how to properly store session information, SQL injection and much more. Security is such a big topic and so important I think it’s a good idea to at least learn some of the basics and best practices to defend against the most common threats.
Dave:
I started a beginner Python tutorial to get familiar with the basic syntax. I’ve been thinking about enrolling in some data analytics classes, and just checking things out a bit. It’s an interesting departure from the C-based style I’m used to!

“Opening the Toolbox”
————————–
Today we’re talking about how to get started if you’re beginning to learn to code. We’re taking a look back at our journeys so far, and what if anything we might have done differently. Hopefully this might be helpful for those of you on the fence, or in the “Hello World” stage of your learning.

You can reach us at helloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.com
Facebook: Junior Developer Toolbox
Twitter: @JrDevToolbox
Instagram: JuniorDeveloperToolbox]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean50:18Episode 21 - Working Remotely, or Remotely Working?https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-21-working-remotely-or-remotely-working/
Wed, 18 Jul 2018 02:35:18 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=388https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-21-working-remotely-or-remotely-working/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-21-working-remotely-or-remotely-working/feed/4This week we’re talking about working from home, and discussing the pros and cons of working remotely. “Sharpening the Tools” —————————- Erin: Finally finished the Angular course I stared on Pluralsight a couple of months ago. Other miscellaneous courses on Treehouse. Design Fundamentals, OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities. Dave: Gave a presentation to the freeCodeCamp NashvilleContinue reading →This week we’re talking about working from home, and discussing the pros and cons of working remotely.

“Sharpening the Tools”
—————————-

Erin:

Finally finished the Angular course I stared on Pluralsight a couple of months ago.

Gave a presentation to the freeCodeCamp Nashville meetup on Mobile First. Expanding on my “DevChat” I gave to my work team, and some ideas we explored in the last JDT episode, I presented a slideshow discussing the impact of a mobile first perspective on development projects. It seemed to go over pretty well, and I hope to keep working on my speaking skills with the eventual goal of giving a conference talk.

Shout Outs:
Katrina left us a comment on Episode 19, saying:

Hi guys! First off I love your podcast, I’ve been listening to it for a few months and it has helped me feel brave enough to get into a bootcamp and get started my developer career!

I really wanted to make a not about episode 19 where a lack of confidence was cited as a reason why women do not apply to jobs where they don’t meet %100 of the requirements.

I would like to put forth that it may be more of a self-awareness than lack of confidence. A number of studies have shown that men may be more likely to be hired based on potential, whereas women more often need to have the experience already.

It could come down to an issue with hiring status quo rather than from a woman’s confidence in herself. Whatever the case, I sincerely hope more women will apply for stretch positions!

]]>This week we’re talking about working from home, and discussing the pros and cons of working remotely. “Sharpening the Tools” —————————- Erin: Finally finished the Angular course I stared on Pluralsight a couple of months ago.
“Sharpening the Tools”

—————————-
Erin:
Finally finished the Angular course I stared on Pluralsight a couple of months ago.
Other miscellaneous courses on Treehouse. Design Fundamentals, OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities.
Dave:
Gave a presentation to the freeCodeCamp Nashville meetup on Mobile First. Expanding on my “DevChat” I gave to my work team, and some ideas we explored in the last JDT episode, I presented a slideshow discussing the impact of a mobile first perspective on development projects. It seemed to go over pretty well, and I hope to keep working on my speaking skills with the eventual goal of giving a conference talk.

Shout Outs:

Katrina left us a comment on Episode 19, saying:
Hi guys! First off I love your podcast, I’ve been listening to it for a few months and it has helped me feel brave enough to get into a bootcamp and get started my developer career!
I really wanted to make a not about episode 19 where a lack of confidence was cited as a reason why women do not apply to jobs where they don’t meet %100 of the requirements.
I would like to put forth that it may be more of a self-awareness than lack of confidence. A number of studies have shown that men may be more likely to be hired based on potential, whereas women more often need to have the experience already.
It could come down to an issue with hiring status quo rather than from a woman’s confidence in herself. Whatever the case, I sincerely hope more women will apply for stretch positions!

“Opening the Toolbox”
Telecommuting has gained popularity in recent years, with 23% percent of workers doing at least some work remotely in 2015 (was 19% in 2003) – Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Work flexibility is in demand from both young people entering the workforce, and older workers deferring or “phasing” retirement.

Advantages:
Generally, more productive
Less likely to take time off
Reduce commute costs
Company of pets/animals
Lower/no stress from commuting
Good for the environment
Control over where and when you work
Fewer “just stopping by” distractions
Balanced meal / physical exercise

Disadvantages:
Harder to maintain a work/personal boundary
Left out of social activities/lonely
Harder to collaborate
Context of conversations lost over slack / email
Webex/Skype hell …
Security concerns?
Different distractions – kids, pets, deliveries, etc.

===========https://weworkremotely.com/https://www.authenticjobs.com/]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean46:21Episode 20 - Exploring Mobile First and Responsive Designhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-20-exploring-mobile-first-and-responsive-design/
Tue, 03 Jul 2018 23:21:41 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=379https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-20-exploring-mobile-first-and-responsive-design/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-20-exploring-mobile-first-and-responsive-design/feed/0This week we’re talking about the history of mobile devices, and how they have affected different aspects of and approaches to software development. “Sharpening the Tools” ————– Erin: Shifting into a full-time mindset. Not having to track hours and turn them in. Getting all my ducks in a row with health benefits and 401ks andContinue reading →This week we’re talking about the history of mobile devices, and how they have affected different aspects of and approaches to software development.

“Sharpening the Tools”
————–

Erin:

Shifting into a full-time mindset. Not having to track hours and turn them in. Getting all my ducks in a row with health benefits and 401ks and what not.

Dave:

…Learning about site performance, and page load optimization, which we’ll get into more detail later in this episode. But my past week has been finding new ways to get web assets to load as quickly as possible, to provide a good user experience.

Shout Outs:
Teddy Williams – is a self taught developer who recently landed his first developer job. He listed out various resources and tools he found along his journey, and mentioned that he enjoyed Junior Developer Toolbox! Thank you so much for the shout out, Teddy! Congratulations, and we’re wishing you good luck on your new gig!

“Opening the Toolbox”

What is mobile first? Generally speaking, it’s an approach to “responsive” design that prioritizes building for smaller screens or resolutions before scaling up to larger screens.

]]>This week we’re talking about the history of mobile devices, and how they have affected different aspects of and approaches to software development. “Sharpening the Tools” ————– Erin: Shifting into a full-time mindset.
“Sharpening the Tools”

————–
Erin:
Shifting into a full-time mindset. Not having to track hours and turn them in. Getting all my ducks in a row with health benefits and 401ks and what not.
Dave:
…Learning about site performance, and page load optimization, which we’ll get into more detail later in this episode. But my past week has been finding new ways to get web assets to load as quickly as possible, to provide a good user experience.

Shout Outs:

Teddy Williams – is a self taught developer who recently landed his first developer job. He listed out various resources and tools he found along his journey, and mentioned that he enjoyed Junior Developer Toolbox! Thank you so much for the shout out, Teddy! Congratulations, and we’re wishing you good luck on your new gig!

“Opening the Toolbox”
What is mobile first? Generally speaking, it’s an approach to “responsive” design that prioritizes building for smaller screens or resolutions before scaling up to larger screens.
History of mobile first

* Remembering “Mobile Web”
* Steve Jobs unveils iPhone, 2007

* Remembering our experiences
* How to accommodate a wide range of devices

You can reach us at helloworld@juniordevelopertoolbox.com
Facebook: Junior Developer Toolbox
Twitter: @JrDevToolbox
Instagram: JuniorDeveloperToolbox]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean45:09Episode 19 - Are All Requirements Required? A Closer look at Job Listingshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-19-are-all-requirements-required-a-closer-look-at-job-listings/
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 02:36:08 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=371https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-19-are-all-requirements-required-a-closer-look-at-job-listings/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-19-are-all-requirements-required-a-closer-look-at-job-listings/feed/3This week we’re talking about knowing when to apply to a job. Do you need to have all of the experience and listed requirements? How do you know you’re ready? We’ve all seen job descriptions with a long laundry list of technology requirements. What if you don’t meet all of these? Should you still apply?Continue reading →This week we’re talking about knowing when to apply to a job. Do you need to have all of the experience and listed requirements? How do you know you’re ready?

We’ve all seen job descriptions with a long laundry list of technology requirements. What if you don’t meet all of these? Should you still apply? Is it okay to exaggerate or fudge your experience?

Not all requirements are created equal. If they require security clearance or a specific certification, that might not be as flexible. But if I’m familiar with JavaScript frameworks and they require one I haven’t used, I might be able to cram and know the basics in a matter of weeks.

Certain keywords or factors might prevent you even being considered …

Is it okay to exaggerate on your application / resume?

Can you discuss a technology you haven’t used intelligently in an interview?

Last minute cramming on a skill?

A recruiter sent me a listing I don’t think I’m qualified for. Maybe they know something I don’t

Years of experience? How strict of a requirement is this?

“I’ve always thought that years of experience isn’t necessarily a good indicator of seniority. That’s only because you can have 5 years of creating Hello, World and you wouldn’t have nearly the same level of experience as someone who has only 6 months of detailed work on a specific language or framework.”– gaProgMan (Jamie)

Looking at specific job listings. Would you apply?

]]>This week we’re talking about knowing when to apply to a job. Do you need to have all of the experience and listed requirements? How do you know you’re ready? We’ve all seen job descriptions with a long laundry list of technology requirements.

* Inexperience at hiring
* Looking for a unicorn / purple squirrel
* Phantom Posting / just for show

Use your network
70% Rule – Applying when you have the majority of the required skills, but not all. But wait, are women more likely to apply only when they meet 100%?https://hbr.org/2014/08/why-women-dont-apply-for-jobs-unless-theyre-100-qualified
Hard requirements vs. wish list
Not all requirements are created equal. If they require security clearance or a specific certification, that might not be as flexible. But if I’m familiar with JavaScript frameworks and they require one I haven’t used, I might be able to cram and know the basics in a matter of weeks.
Certain keywords or factors might prevent you even being considered …

* Is it okay to exaggerate on your application / resume?
* Can you discuss a technology you haven’t used intelligently in an interview?
* Last minute cramming on a skill?
* A recruiter sent me a listing I don’t think I’m qualified for. Maybe they know something I don’t
* Years of experience? How strict of a requirement is this?

“I’ve always thought that years of experience isn’t necessarily a good indicator of seniority. That’s only because you can have 5 years of creating Hello, World and you wouldn’t have nearly the same level of experience as someone who has only 6 months of detailed work on a specific language or framework.”

– gaProgMan (Jamie)
Looking at specific job listings. Would you apply?]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean45:20Episode 18 - Music City Tech 2018https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-18-music-city-tech-2018/
Wed, 06 Jun 2018 02:25:51 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=356https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-18-music-city-tech-2018/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-18-music-city-tech-2018/feed/0Today we’ve got a special episode for our listeners. This past weekend, we attended Music City Tech, which is a 3 day local tech conference in Nashville, held this year at Vanderbilt University. If you’re been tuning into recent episodes, you know we’ve been gearing up for this event for several weeks, and discuss itContinue reading →Today we’ve got a special episode for our listeners. This past weekend, we attended Music City Tech, which is a 3 day local tech conference in Nashville, held this year at Vanderbilt University. If you’re been tuning into recent episodes, you know we’ve been gearing up for this event for several weeks, and discuss it at length in Episode 16.

The conference was our “sharpening the tools” for this week, as the conference sessions are a great way to explore new topics and skills. Erin, what was your favorite takeaway from the event?

Erin and Dave recap the sessions and lessons that stood out to them the most from the conference.

This week we wanted to bring you some voices, live from the conference of people involved. We spoke with attendees, speakers and crew about their experiences – and wanted to share those with you if you weren’t able to make it out yourselves.

7:37 – Aaron Wilcoxon is a conference attendee we met who was visiting from Maryland

13:34 – Cass Van Gelder is an Agile Coach/Scrum Master in Nashville and led a workshop called Throne of Games: Creating Your Own Agile Games. Cass is on Twitter as @agileismyname_o

19:14 – Rodney Norris is a Nashville developer and conference attendee, who has also been involved with Nodevember, and is a host on the NashDev podcast.

24:02 – Gaines Kergosien has been the director and lead organizer of Music City Code since it first began in 2015. He was gracious enough to sit down with me for a few minutes to talk about what all goes into planning a conference like this.

Interview with Gaines

32:30 – Deanna Vickers has been involved in the planning and production of several local conferences for years, and helped me first get involved years ago. You can read Deanna’s recent LinkedIn post about why volunteering is good for your career!

We hope you enjoyed hearing these snippets from conference attendees, straight from the trenches! If you were able to attend, or have a great conference experience you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you!

This conference would not have been possible without the hard work of the volunteers, crew members, organizers and sponsors that worked together to make this event flow smoothly. So I want to give a shout out to all of those individuals that made this conference a success.

For more information about Music City Tech, or if you’re interested in volunteering for next year’s conference, you can visit http://musiccitytech.com/ for more information. We also highly encourage you to check out conferences in your area, as a great way to network and get plugged into your local tech community.

39:49 – Erin reveals her big exciting news!

]]>Today we’ve got a special episode for our listeners. This past weekend, we attended Music City Tech, which is a 3 day local tech conference in Nashville, held this year at Vanderbilt University. If you’re been tuning into recent episodes,
The conference was our “sharpening the tools” for this week, as the conference sessions are a great way to explore new topics and skills. Erin, what was your favorite takeaway from the event?
Erin and Dave recap the sessions and lessons that stood out to them the most from the conference.
This week we wanted to bring you some voices, live from the conference of people involved. We spoke with attendees, speakers and crew about their experiences – and wanted to share those with you if you weren’t able to make it out yourselves.
7:37 – Aaron Wilcoxon is a conference attendee we met who was visiting from Maryland
13:34 – Cass Van Gelder is an Agile Coach/Scrum Master in Nashville and led a workshop called Throne of Games: Creating Your Own Agile Games. Cass is on Twitter as @agileismyname_o
19:14 – Rodney Norris is a Nashville developer and conference attendee, who has also been involved with Nodevember, and is a host on the NashDev podcast.
24:02 – Gaines Kergosien has been the director and lead organizer of Music City Code since it first began in 2015. He was gracious enough to sit down with me for a few minutes to talk about what all goes into planning a conference like this.
32:30 – Deanna Vickers has been involved in the planning and production of several local conferences for years, and helped me first get involved years ago. You can read Deanna’s recent LinkedIn post about why volunteering is good for your career!
We hope you enjoyed hearing these snippets from conference attendees, straight from the trenches! If you were able to attend, or have a great conference experience you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you!
This conference would not have been possible without the hard work of the volunteers, crew members, organizers and sponsors that worked together to make this event flow smoothly. So I want to give a shout out to all of those individuals that made this conference a success.
For more information about Music City Tech, or if you’re interested in volunteering for next year’s conference, you can visit http://musiccitytech.com/ for more information. We also highly encourage you to check out conferences in your area, as a great way to network and get plugged into your local tech community.
39:49 – Erin reveals her big exciting news!]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean42:45Episode 17 - ImPress with WordPresshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-17-impress-with-wordpress/
Tue, 22 May 2018 14:37:36 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=346https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-17-impress-with-wordpress/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-17-impress-with-wordpress/feed/0In this episode we discuss our experience using WordPress, why it might be a good tool for those just starting out with development (or freelancing), and how to learn to this popular skill. Sharpening the tools: Resources for Flexbox What the Flexbox (free video course) Flexbox Cheat Sheet What is WordPress? WordPress.org is theContinue reading →In this episode we discuss our experience using WordPress, why it might be a good tool for those just starting out with development (or freelancing), and how to learn to this popular skill.

WordPress.org is the open-source, customizable Content Management System we focus on in this episode. It is the most popular CMS in the world and is used by nearly 75 million websites, and powers more than 25% of the world’s websites (statistics from Forbes).Wordpress.com is a web hosting service.

]]>In this episode we discuss our experience using WordPress, why it might be a good tool for those just starting out with development (or freelancing), and how to learn to this popular skill. Sharpening the tools: Resources for Flexbox What the Flexbox (...
Sharpening the tools: Resources for FlexboxWhat the Flexbox (free video course)Flexbox Cheat Sheet

What is WordPress?
WordPress.org is the open-source, customizable Content Management System we focus on in this episode. It is the most popular CMS in the world and is used by nearly 75 million websites, and powers more than 25% of the world’s websites (statistics from Forbes).Wordpress.com is a web hosting service.

]]>Erin Orstrom and Dave Harnedclean31:38Episode 16 - Making the Most of Tech Conferenceshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-16-making-the-most-of-tech-conferences/
Tue, 08 May 2018 13:58:44 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=339https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-16-making-the-most-of-tech-conferences/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-16-making-the-most-of-tech-conferences/feed/2In this episode we’ll be talking about tech conferences, how to plan your schedule to get the most out of the content without getting burned out, strategies for participating in coding workshops, networking tips, and more. With Music City Tech coming up at the end of May, we thought this would be a good timeContinue reading →In this episode we’ll be talking about tech conferences, how to plan your schedule to get the most out of the content without getting burned out, strategies for participating in coding workshops, networking tips, and more.

With Music City Tech coming up at the end of May, we thought this would be a good time to talk about our game plan for the conference and share insights that have helped us make the most of tech conferences we’ve attended in the past.

Planning your schedule:
It’s easy to want to attend a session for every slot, but it’s really easy to burn yourself out that way trying to absorb so much varying information in such a short amount of time. I did this in the first couple of conferences I attended and definitely suffered from information overload. Pick a few talks you’re interested in, with some breaks between every couple.

Conferences are great to explore new technologies, languages, etc. that you may not work in everyday. They also make it easy to find people interested in the same things.

Code-alongs/Workshops:
I often find that if I try to code along with someone giving an interactive presentation, I often have to choose between getting the code correct in my editor vs. actually absorbing the concepts the speaker is talking about. So I’ve often opted to just listen and watch.
The speaker often posts links to the working code/demo that I can go look at on my own later with the knowledge I picked up from their talk.

Networking:
Conference environments are some of the most laid-back environments to network and meet other people: everyone is there to learn something and even if you are actively looking for a job, generally that isn’t your main purpose for attending a conference, but it does show potential employers that you’re eager to learn and expand your knowledge and skill set.
Kick-off/wrap up mixers – great laid back environments to chat with conference-goers

]]>In this episode we’ll be talking about tech conferences, how to plan your schedule to get the most out of the content without getting burned out, strategies for participating in coding workshops, networking tips, and more.
With Music City Tech coming up at the end of May, we thought this would be a good time to talk about our game plan for the conference and share insights that have helped us make the most of tech conferences we’ve attended in the past.
Planning your schedule:

It’s easy to want to attend a session for every slot, but it’s really easy to burn yourself out that way trying to absorb so much varying information in such a short amount of time. I did this in the first couple of conferences I attended and definitely suffered from information overload. Pick a few talks you’re interested in, with some breaks between every couple.
Conferences are great to explore new technologies, languages, etc. that you may not work in everyday. They also make it easy to find people interested in the same things.
Code-alongs/Workshops:

I often find that if I try to code along with someone giving an interactive presentation, I often have to choose between getting the code correct in my editor vs. actually absorbing the concepts the speaker is talking about. So I’ve often opted to just listen and watch.

The speaker often posts links to the working code/demo that I can go look at on my own later with the knowledge I picked up from their talk.
Networking:

Conference environments are some of the most laid-back environments to network and meet other people: everyone is there to learn something and even if you are actively looking for a job, generally that isn’t your main purpose for attending a conference, but it does show potential employers that you’re eager to learn and expand your knowledge and skill set.

Kick-off/wrap up mixers – great laid back environments to chat with conference-goers]]>Erin and Daveclean29:10Episode 15 - Resumes for Career Changershttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-15-resumes-for-career-changers/
Tue, 24 Apr 2018 14:00:04 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=320https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-15-resumes-for-career-changers/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-15-resumes-for-career-changers/feed/0Today we’ll be talking about resume structure, describing relevant experience, highlighting applicable skills, and projects! Sharpening the Tools Erin: She spent some time the other week on an intro to Machine Learning course on Treehouse, and got to a point in the tutorial where she couldn’t launch the environment successfully as was being shown inContinue reading →Today we’ll be talking about resume structure, describing relevant experience, highlighting applicable skills, and projects!

Sharpening the Tools

Erin:

She spent some time the other week on an intro to Machine Learning course on Treehouse, and got to a point in the tutorial where she couldn’t launch the environment successfully as was being shown in the video. So she spent an hour or so Googling what was going on and how to fix the issue, and – word to the wise – Anaconda and the Python shell do not currently work with Oh My Zsh, which is a an open source, community-driven framework for managing your ZSH configuration. (What does that mean??) It’s essentially a tool for your terminal that helps you use the command line more efficiently, as it comes bundled with a ton of helpful functions, helpers, plugins, themes, and more.

Dave:

Dave has started a new Udemy tutorial that came highly recommended by a friend: Build an app with ASP.NET Core and Angular from scratch. He hasn’t gotten very far in yet, but he’s been struggling to find a way to work on C#/.NET on a Mac – it hasn’t been easy to find, and sometimes he’s started one, only to figure out the tools don’t work in his environment. A friend suggested this tutorial could be done entirely on VSCode and didn’t require regular VS which always tripped him up. He’s hoping that his exposure to Typescript will help him pick up C#, and also to get some experience with relational databases as opposed to the NoSQL mongoDB he’s used before. This tutorial will have him building a swipe-culture dating app.

Shout Outs!

Opening the Toolbox

Many people who found their way into web and software development came with experience from another career. They have work experience, but it’s a question of how to apply relevant skills and experience to their new career.

References
==========

]]>Today we’ll be talking about resume structure, describing relevant experience, highlighting applicable skills, and projects!
Sharpening the Tools
Erin:
She spent some time the other week on an intro to Machine Learning course on Treehouse, and got to a point in the tutorial where she couldn’t launch the environment successfully as was being shown in the video. So she spent an hour or so Googling what was going on and how to fix the issue, and – word to the wise – Anaconda and the Python shell do not currently work with Oh My Zsh, which is a an open source, community-driven framework for managing your ZSH configuration. (What does that mean??) It’s essentially a tool for your terminal that helps you use the command line more efficiently, as it comes bundled with a ton of helpful functions, helpers, plugins, themes, and more.
Dave:
Dave has started a new Udemy tutorial that came highly recommended by a friend: Build an app with ASP.NET Core and Angular from scratch. He hasn’t gotten very far in yet, but he’s been struggling to find a way to work on C#/.NET on a Mac – it hasn’t been easy to find, and sometimes he’s started one, only to figure out the tools don’t work in his environment. A friend suggested this tutorial could be done entirely on VSCode and didn’t require regular VS which always tripped him up. He’s hoping that his exposure to Typescript will help him pick up C#, and also to get some experience with relational databases as opposed to the NoSQL mongoDB he’s used before. This tutorial will have him building a swipe-culture dating app.
Shout Outs!
Opening the Toolbox
Many people who found their way into web and software development came with experience from another career. They have work experience, but it’s a question of how to apply relevant skills and experience to their new career.

==========https://amp.fastcompany.com/40540377/changing-careers-heres-exactly-what-to-put-on-your-resumehttps://novoresume.com/]]>Erin and Daveclean46:15Episode 14 - Good Enough for Government Workhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-14-good-enough-for-government-work-with-bj-burns-and-jason-weakley/
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 04:21:24 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=310https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-14-good-enough-for-government-work-with-bj-burns-and-jason-weakley/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-14-good-enough-for-government-work-with-bj-burns-and-jason-weakley/feed/2Today, we’ll be looking at what it’s like to be a government software developer, and how this area differs from working in the private sector. We’ll touch on differences in work life balance, how branches of government can affect your work, the impact of the things you’re building, and considerations for all your citizen users.Continue reading →Today, we’ll be looking at what it’s like to be a government software developer, and how this area differs from working in the private sector. We’ll touch on differences in work life balance, how branches of government can affect your work, the impact of the things you’re building, and considerations for all your citizen users.

This week we’re excited to welcome not one, but two special guests!

BJ (Beej) Burns is a junior software engineer at the State of TN, and a colleague and mentor of Dave’s. You may know him as co-host of our sibling podcast, “The Complete Developer Podcast”!Jason Weakley is a graduate of Nashville Software School, and also a software developer for the State. He hosts a meetup group the “State and Local Government Developers Network”.

There are lots of industries and workforce segments that need software developers, so we want to start exploring a few different ones and how the work and processes differ from one another. For someone job hunting or thinking about an industry transition, let’s discuss some things to consider about working in a government role.

Erin’s first software developer role was with the State of TN as a contractor, in their general “IT department”. Many departments tend to have their own IT/software/etc. departments, but this was like the high-level IT hub of all departments.

She was part of a transition project in which the team was taking ownership over some 80+ applications developed by a third party vendor in which the department decided not to renew a contract with.

The whole team working on this project was brand new (she was one of the first hired onto the team about 2 months after they’d made the decision to not renew the contract and bring everything in house, and they filled the last positions about 2 months or so before the hand-off date).

Each individual was brought on a contractor with the intent to convert once/if they became eligible (certain number of hours worked and if there was an FTE position open).

Health insurance (supposedly offers some of the best coverage for the most reasonable price)

Pension Plan (one of the few organization that still offers these)

Student loan forgiveness after 10 years

Cons:

Bureaucracy

Erin – finding the bureaucracy/red tape situation very similar in my current healthcare position. Maybe it has to do with the amount of personal information your organization deals with (PHI for healthcare, criminal records, etc. in government)

Slow salary growth, less competitive (only about 85% max of what you’d earn in the same job in the private sector)

(LCD – workers who do the bare minimum?) (stereotype)

Lots of rules around interactions with vendors, 3rd party companies, etc. They cannot buy you meals or otherwise give you any gifts because for public service people it could be seen as a bribe for policy, even if you aren’t a high-ranking official.

Government departments aims to do well by the people because they are largely funded by taxpayer dollars;

Private sector – people can choose whether or not to pay for the services provided, so the mission is often different; can also aim to help the people at large by expanding the business and number of people they serve

Do you feel like you are making an impact?

Progress often gets caught up and lost in process. Processes are often there for a reason, but when you can’t get people to collaborate or agree on a mission or best practices, etc. you often hold up work getting done and reaching the end user in a timely fashion.

Thanks for listening! See you next time!

]]>with BJ Burns and Jason Weakley
This week we’re excited to welcome not one, but two special guests!
BJ (Beej) Burns is a junior software engineer at the State of TN, and a colleague and mentor of Dave’s. You may know him as co-host of our sibling podcast, “The Complete Developer Podcast”!

Jason Weakley is a graduate of Nashville Software School, and also a software developer for the State. He hosts a meetup group the “State and Local Government Developers Network”.

There are lots of industries and workforce segments that need software developers, so we want to start exploring a few different ones and how the work and processes differ from one another. For someone job hunting or thinking about an industry transition, let’s discuss some things to consider about working in a government role.

Erin’s first software developer role was with the State of TN as a contractor, in their general “IT department”. Many departments tend to have their own IT/software/etc. departments, but this was like the high-level IT hub of all departments.
She was part of a transition project in which the team was taking ownership over some 80+ applications developed by a third party vendor in which the department decided not to renew a contract with.
The whole team working on this project was brand new (she was one of the first hired onto the team about 2 months after they’d made the decision to not renew the contract and bring everything in house, and they filled the last positions about 2 months or so before the hand-off date).
Each individual was brought on a contractor with the intent to convert once/if they became eligible (certain number of hours worked and if there was an FTE position open).
Public Service vs. Private sector – pros and cons?

Health insurance (supposedly offers some of the best coverage for the most reasonable price)
Pension Plan (one of the few organization that still offers these)
Student loan forgiveness after 10 years

Cons:

Bureaucracy

Erin – finding the bureaucracy/red tape situation very similar in my current healthcare position. Maybe it has to do with the amount of personal information your organization deals with (PHI for healthcare, criminal records, etc. in government)

Slow salary growth, less competitive (only about 85% max of what you’d earn in the same job in the private sector)
(LCD – workers who do the bare minimum?) (stereotype)
Lots of rules around interactions with vendors, 3rd party companies, etc. They cannot buy you meals or otherwise give you any gifts because for public service people it could be seen as a bribe for policy, even if you aren’t a high-ranking official.

Government departments aims to do well by the people because they are largely funded by taxpayer dollars;
Private sector – people can choose whether or not to pay for the services provided, so the mission is often different; can also aim to help the people at large by expanding the business and number of people they serve

Do you feel like you are making an impact?

Progress often gets caught up and lost in process.]]>Erin and Daveclean1:00:50Episode 13 – The Sharpeninghttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-13-the-sharpening/
Wed, 28 Mar 2018 00:12:40 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=290https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-13-the-sharpening/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-13-the-sharpening/feed/0In this episode, we dive a into some code katas and walk through a coding exercise. We’ll talk about sites we like to challenge ourselves with to keep our skills sharp. What is a code kata? It’s a term for an exercise coined by Dave Thomas (not the Wendy’s guy) in the Pragmatic Programmer. TheContinue reading →In this episode, we dive a into some code katas and walk through a coding exercise. We’ll talk about sites we like to challenge ourselves with to keep our skills sharp.

What is a code kata? It’s a term for an exercise coined by Dave Thomas (not the Wendy’s guy) in the Pragmatic Programmer. The name kata is a Japanese word referring to the practice of martial arts. Code katas are short coding challenges, typically with a handful of tests to pass, that are a great way to practice.

Capture the first argument passed in using the argument object. Set it to a variable (n).

CodeWars Exercise – Step 2:

In a for loop, iterate through the arguments object which will iterate through all of the parameters being passed in (we don’t know how many that will be, since it’s variable).

CodeWars Exercise – Step 3:

Using an if statement and modulo (%), check to see if n is divisible by each argument being passed into the function. If the result is not 0, return false, which breaks the loop and returns false for the whole function.

CodeWars Exercise – Step 4:

Return true outside of the for loop if n is divisible by all variables.

Keep in mind that there are many different ways to solve this exercise, and I may go back and refactor my solution at some point to make it more concise and use ES6.

freeCodeCamp Exercise – Step 1: Because I want to compare every word, I know I’ll need to iterate through them. The .split() string method can divide a long string into an array of smaller strings. I’m using the space between each word as a delimiter to neatly divide them all up.

freeCodeCamp Exercise – Step 2: I created a placeholder for the longest word length, initialized to zero. Then I’m going to use a .forEach() loop to iterate through one array item at a time, which I’ll refer to as ‘word’ in each iteration.

freeCodeCamp Exercise – Step 3: Now I want to compare each word’s length to my longest value, and if it’s longer, make that the new longest value. So I’m evaluating a conditional statement, and taking a different action depending on the result. There are a couple ways to do this, an “if / else” statement or a ternary operator. I’m showing both here, but they are doing the exact same thing.

freeCodeCamp Exercise – Step 4: The ternary operator is much more concise once you understand the ‘?’ and ‘:’, so we’ll go with that. I’ll return the value of ‘longest’ after my loop is complete, and the tests pass. Here is the completed function:

]]>In this episode, we dive a into some code katas and walk through a coding exercise. We’ll talk about sites we like to challenge ourselves with to keep our skills sharp. What is a code kata? It’s a term for an exercise coined by Dave Thomas (not the Wen...
What is a code kata? It’s a term for an exercise coined by Dave Thomas (not the Wendy’s guy) in the Pragmatic Programmer. The name kata is a Japanese word referring to the practice of martial arts. Code katas are short coding challenges, typically with a handful of tests to pass, that are a great way to practice.
Challenge websites we’ve used:FreecodecampCodewarsExercismHackerrank

CodeWars Exercise – Step 2:
In a for loop, iterate through the arguments object which will iterate through all of the parameters being passed in (we don’t know how many that will be, since it’s variable).

CodeWars Exercise – Step 3:
Using an if statement and modulo (%), check to see if n is divisible by each argument being passed into the function. If the result is not 0, return false, which breaks the loop and returns false for the whole function.

CodeWars Exercise – Step 4:
Return true outside of the for loop if n is divisible by all variables.

Keep in mind that there are many different ways to solve this exercise, and I may go back and refactor my solution at some point to make it more concise and use ES6.

Find the Longest Word in a String – from freeCodeCamp
freeCodeCamp Exercise – Step 1: Because I want to compare every word, I know I’ll need to iterate through them. The .split() string method can divide a long string into an array of smaller strings. I’m using the space between each word as a delimiter to neatly divide them all up.

freeCodeCamp Exercise – Step 2: I created a placeholder for the longest word length, initialized to zero. Then I’m going to use a .forEach() loop to iterate through one array item at a time, which I’ll refer to as ‘word’ in each iteration.

freeCodeCamp Exercise – Step 3: Now I want to compare each word’s length to my longest value, and if it’s longer, make that the new longest value. So I’m evaluating a conditional statement, and taking a different action depending on the result. There are a couple ways to do this, an “if / else” statement or a ternary operator.]]>Erin Orstrom & Dave HarnedcleanEpisode 12 - The Missing Link(ed)In Your Career Growthhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-12-the-missing-linked-in-your-career-growth/
Wed, 14 Mar 2018 02:57:21 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=277https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-12-the-missing-linked-in-your-career-growth/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-12-the-missing-linked-in-your-career-growth/feed/0In this episode, we’ll be discussing tips and techniques for utilizing LinkedIn for your job search and continuing to build your network even after you’ve landed a job. So since LI is a social network, a common question that users grapple with is: To accept or not to accept (connection requests)? I would suggest toContinue reading →In this episode, we’ll be discussing tips and techniques for utilizing LinkedIn for your job search and continuing to build your network even after you’ve landed a job.

So since LI is a social network, a common question that users grapple with is:

To accept or not to accept (connection requests)?

I would suggest to always try to send a personal note of some sort when sending an invite to connect with someone – where you met, a topic you discusses, etc. Helps people remember you and it gives a personal touch to the invite.

Mixed opinions here. Part of it may be because some perceive LinkedIn is becoming the more like Facebook (less professional). My personal opinion (EO) is that it’s fine to show a little personality in your LinkedIn photo, after all the company is hiring a person and not a robot (for now HA!). But don’t make it a picture where people can’t see your face clearly or you’re doing something silly or less than flattering (drinking, etc.).

Writing Summaries

Emphasize your skills and passion for web/software development.

Talk about what got you interested in the first place and the path you’ve taken to get started in the field.

Skill endorsements and recommendations

It’s acceptable to request for others to endorse your skills and write you recommendations. Offer to do the same for them as well.

Let them know which skills you’d like to be endorsed for if they’re willing. Also if you have any work or characteristics you’d like them to emphasize in their recommendation, let them know that as well.

It’s part of your personal branding, so helping others craft how you’d like to be perceived isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I personally don’t think you should write one yourself and send to them to post to your page, because then it isn’t as authentic.

Also, if you want to be endorsed for certain skills over others (development skills over design skills) or if you want a balance of technical skills and soft skills, let people know that too. But make sure the skills you’re requesting to be endorsed for make sense in that the person can actually vouch for those skills.

Dave’s approach to seeking out valuable recommendations

Which sections are most important to recruiters/hiring managers

These will probably differ by industry/field

Skills section, previous work are probably the big two. If you catch their eye with those, they may read your summary.

Education, projects you’ve worked on, and accomplishments are important too. Your profile should be well-rounded and thought-out overall

The headline – inspired by celebrity twitter bios? This is often the first thing people see about you. How do you stand out in 120 characters?! (even less than twitter’s 140)

Publishing content

If you are looking for a job, you should be posting on linkedin more often than other social media – keeps your name in front of people

Instant analytics on who’s interacting with your posts

Difficult to talk or brag on yourself, but this is the place to do it

Settings to know about –

The BUTTON – Let recruiters know you’re open: Off / On

Privacy – Sharing your profile edits. I had this off for a while when I was doing a lot of updating, but now that they are more infrequent I WANT new changes to pop up in people’s feeds.

Applying for jobs via LinkedIn

Some companies post jobs you can apply for directly through LI. Depending on what the employers can see when you submit an application, your LI profile information effectively serves as your resume.

LinkedIn Premium – like it or spike it?

Learning about companies

Great place to locate individuals who work at a company you’re interested in working for. It can be tricky speaking with them on LI if you’re not already connected, but sometimes it at least gives you a name and sometimes they provide an e-mail address or other ways to reach them. Maybe cross reference with Slack, if you have a different community-wide network like NashDev.

Customize your URL. The initial one is long and cumbersome and can make it difficult for people to find you.

]]>Tips and techniques for utilizing LinkedIn for your job search and continuing to build your network even after you’ve landed a job.
So since LI is a social network, a common question that users grapple with is:
To accept or not to accept (connection requests)?

Mixed opinions here. Part of it may be because some perceive LinkedIn is becoming the more like Facebook (less professional). My personal opinion (EO) is that it’s fine to show a little personality in your LinkedIn photo, after all the company is hiring a person and not a robot (for now HA!). But don’t make it a picture where people can’t see your face clearly or you’re doing something silly or less than flattering (drinking, etc.).

Writing Summaries

Emphasize your skills and passion for web/software development.
Talk about what got you interested in the first place and the path you’ve taken to get started in the field.

Skill endorsements and recommendations

It’s acceptable to request for others to endorse your skills and write you recommendations. Offer to do the same for them as well.
Let them know which skills you’d like to be endorsed for if they’re willing. Also if you have any work or characteristics you’d like them to emphasize in their recommendation, let them know that as well.
It’s part of your personal branding, so helping others craft how you’d like to be perceived isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I personally don’t think you should write one yourself and send to them to post to your page, because then it isn’t as authentic.
Also, if you want to be endorsed for certain skills over others (development skills over design skills) or if you want a balance of technical skills and soft skills, let people know that too. But make sure the skills you’re requesting to be endorsed for make sense in that the person can actually vouch for those skills.
Dave’s approach to seeking out valuable recommendations

Which sections are most important to recruiters/hiring managers

These will probably differ by industry/field
Skills section, previous work are probably the big two. If you catch their eye with those, they may read your summary.
Education, projects you’ve worked on, and accomplishments are important too. Your profile should be well-rounded and thought-out overall
The headline – inspired by celebrity twitter bios? This is often the first thing people see about you. How do you stand out in 120 characters?! (even less than twitter’s 140)

Publishing content

If you are looking for a job, you should be posting on linkedin more often than other social media R...]]>Erin and Daveclean50:20Episode 11 - The Polyglot Dev With Will Ganthttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-11-the-polyglot-dev-with-will-gant/
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 00:01:19 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=266https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-11-the-polyglot-dev-with-will-gant/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-11-the-polyglot-dev-with-will-gant/feed/1In this episode we discuss the impact of learning multiple languages on your career, language families, parallels with learning foreign languages, and specialization v. diversification. 01:26 – Welcome, Will Gant! Will is a host on our sibling podcast, The Complete Developer. He’s been coding since the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was on network television, andContinue reading →In this episode we discuss the impact of learning multiple languages on your career, language families, parallels with learning foreign languages, and specialization v. diversification.

01:26 – Welcome, Will Gant! Will is a host on our sibling podcast, The Complete Developer. He’s been coding since the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was on network television, and he knows a few programming languages we’ve never even heard of.

02:20 – “Sharpening the Tools”

Erin – Learning process and tools for query optimization. Continuing to help with a church WordPress site on the side.

He is most experienced with C#, JavaScript, Delphi, SQL, Typescript, CSS, SASS, and Powershell.

In Erin’s career she’s worked with JavaScript, C#, Java, SQL. She has also dabbled in Python & Swift. She tries to avoid Java at all costs, if she can help it!

Dave has focused mostly on JavaScript, and decided it was a solid starting point that could cover both front-end and back-end web development (MEAN stack). He played with BASIC as a kid, but doesn’t really remember any of it.

14:50 – Will’s advice would be to specialize, but learn enough about other languages to glean ideas and other approaches.

“You can kinda be middling to okay in a bunch of different languages, but if you really want to … provide overwhelming value, you’ve pretty much have to pick one.”

21:30 – You want to learn your first language really well before you jump into a second. Continually jumping to the next hot thing can stifle your learning.

Sometimes you may find a logical path to your next language, as you’re learning the full stack. In Dave’s case, his study of Angular and Typescript may be a stepping stone to learning C# and other strictly-typed languages.

Complete Developer did an episode on how to approach your second language and discovered some similarities with studying spoken languages. The concept of cognates (similar words in different languages, like the English ‘cold’ to the German ‘kalt’) can also be found in programming language structures and patterns.

28:30 – Spoken languages sometimes make assumptions that don’t exist in other languages. There are some parallels here in programming, especially higher-level languages that abstract away some concerns like memory management.

]]>In this episode we discuss the impact of learning multiple languages on your career, language families, parallels with learning foreign languages, and specialization v. diversification. 01:26 – Welcome, Will Gant!
01:26 – Welcome, Will Gant! Will is a host on our sibling podcast, The Complete Developer. He’s been coding since the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was on network television, and he knows a few programming languages we’ve never even heard of.
02:20 – “Sharpening the Tools”
Erin – Learning process and tools for query optimization. Continuing to help with a church WordPress site on the side.
Dave – Diving into Angular 5 for a work related work project.
Will – Spoke at Covalence about overcoming whiteboard interviews.
7:09 – “Opening the Toolbox”
Will has worked with C#, JavaScript, SQL, Visual Basic, Delphi, C, C++, Assembler, Python, Ruby, VBA, FoxPro, Java, R, and more! I think we counted about 27 total?
He is most experienced with C#, JavaScript, Delphi, SQL, Typescript, CSS, SASS, and Powershell.
In Erin’s career she’s worked with JavaScript, C#, Java, SQL. She has also dabbled in Python & Swift. She tries to avoid Java at all costs, if she can help it!
Dave has focused mostly on JavaScript, and decided it was a solid starting point that could cover both front-end and back-end web development (MEAN stack). He played with BASIC as a kid, but doesn’t really remember any of it.
14:50 – Will’s advice would be to specialize, but learn enough about other languages to glean ideas and other approaches.
“You can kinda be middling to okay in a bunch of different languages, but if you really want to … provide overwhelming value, you’ve pretty much have to pick one.”
21:30 – You want to learn your first language really well before you jump into a second. Continually jumping to the next hot thing can stifle your learning.
Sometimes you may find a logical path to your next language, as you’re learning the full stack. In Dave’s case, his study of Angular and Typescript may be a stepping stone to learning C# and other strictly-typed languages.
Complete Developer did an episode on how to approach your second language and discovered some similarities with studying spoken languages. The concept of cognates (similar words in different languages, like the English ‘cold’ to the German ‘kalt’) can also be found in programming language structures and patterns.Tim Ferris discusses hacks for learning a spoken language quickly.
28:30 – Spoken languages sometimes make assumptions that don’t exist in other languages. There are some parallels here in programming, especially higher-level languages that abstract away some concerns like memory management.
We discuss ‘newer’ experimental languages verses tried and true ‘old’ ones and learning trends from this article Erin brought to the table.

Thanks for listening, see you next time!

]]>Erin and Daveclean48:47Episode 10 - That Contractor Lifehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-10-that-contractor-life/
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 06:45:31 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=260https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-10-that-contractor-life/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-10-that-contractor-life/feed/2In this episode we explore different types of contract employment and career implications of taking these kinds of roles. 1:27 – “Sharpening the Tools” Erin – A bit overloaded with learning business and development processes at her new job, and helping out building a website on the side, Erin has dipped her toes into aContinue reading →In this episode we explore different types of contract employment and career implications of taking these kinds of roles.

1:27 – “Sharpening the Tools”

Erin – A bit overloaded with learning business and development processes at her new job, and helping out building a website on the side, Erin has dipped her toes into a data analysis course on Treehouse.

Dave – planning a presentation on Selenium, an automation testing tool for browsers, to coworkers.

There’s a lot of things to consider when working for yourself, especially as a 1099 employee and being responsible for withholding your own taxes and paying yourself.

Pros: You can set your own rates, set your own schedule, and have a lot of control over what kind of projects you take on.

Cons: Steady work can be inconsistent if you’re just starting out and depending on the economy and the market.

7:48 – Straight Contract

Usually have a set timeline (6 months, 1 year, etc.)

Possibility for extension or conversion but not guaranteed and not usually the intent

Sometimes the situation is an “open-ended” contract

Often a higher hourly rate can be expected, but the employee usually covers their own health benefits and doesn’t typically have PTO or holiday pay

There’s often either a real or perceived divide between contractors and full-time employees, in regards to what contractors do or do not have access to or are included in (trainings, employee events, etc.).

14:13 – Contract-to-Hire

Intent to convert the contractor to a full time employee with the company (client) after the specified time period has elapsed (usually 3 months to 1 year) or when other requirements are met (certain number of hours worked, a position opens up, etc.)

Contract period is often used as a trial period for the employer and/or employee to see if the employee is a good fit and vice versa.

Recruiting firms sometimes offer benefits of some sort for the duration of the contract period

Contract hourly rates and conversion rates are often “locked-in” when you’re submitted for a position, which typically leaves little to no room for negotiation for salary, time off, etc. upon conversion to FTE

18:37 – Full Time Employment (FTE)

Most traditional style of employment (salaried vs. hourly), and typically the most “secure”

]]>Exploring the ins and outs of contract employment
1:27 – “Sharpening the Tools”
Erin – A bit overloaded with learning business and development processes at her new job, and helping out building a website on the side, Erin has dipped her toes into a data analysis course on Treehouse.
Dave – planning a presentation on Selenium, an automation testing tool for browsers, to coworkers.

3:49 – “Opening the Toolbox”
4:15 – Types of employment: Freelancers / Consultants / Independent contractors, straight contract, contract to hire, and full-time employment
“Hire a really good accountant, and factor that cost in.”
There’s a lot of things to consider when working for yourself, especially as a 1099 employee and being responsible for withholding your own taxes and paying yourself.
Pros: You can set your own rates, set your own schedule, and have a lot of control over what kind of projects you take on.
Cons: Steady work can be inconsistent if you’re just starting out and depending on the economy and the market.

7:48 – Straight Contract

Usually have a set timeline (6 months, 1 year, etc.)
Possibility for extension or conversion but not guaranteed and not usually the intent
Sometimes the situation is an “open-ended” contract
Often a higher hourly rate can be expected, but the employee usually covers their own health benefits and doesn’t typically have PTO or holiday pay
There’s often either a real or perceived divide between contractors and full-time employees, in regards to what contractors do or do not have access to or are included in (trainings, employee events, etc.).

14:13 – Contract-to-Hire

Intent to convert the contractor to a full time employee with the company (client) after the specified time period has elapsed (usually 3 months to 1 year) or when other requirements are met (certain number of hours worked, a position opens up, etc.)
Contract period is often used as a trial period for the employer and/or employee to see if the employee is a good fit and vice versa.
Recruiting firms sometimes offer benefits of some sort for the duration of the contract period
Contract hourly rates and conversion rates are often “locked-in” when you’re submitted for a position, which typically leaves little to no room for negotiation for salary, time off, etc. upon conversion to FTE

18:37 – Full Time Employment (FTE)

Most traditional style of employment (salaried vs. hourly), and typically the most “secure”
Paid Time Off, holidays pay, health benefits

Thanks for listening, see you next time!]]>Erin and Daveclean37:12Episode 9 - You're Hired! Now What?? With Josh Kilgorehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-9-youre-hired-now-what-with-josh-kilgore/
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 00:01:51 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=241https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-9-youre-hired-now-what-with-josh-kilgore/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-9-youre-hired-now-what-with-josh-kilgore/feed/0In this episode we explore what it’s like to walk in to a new role as a junior dev and start on the right foot. We’ll touch on making impressions, staying thirsty to learn, navigating the onboarding process, and meeting the team. We’re excited to introduce our first guest on the show, Josh Kilgore! JoshContinue reading →In this episode we explore what it’s like to walk in to a new role as a junior dev and start on the right foot. We’ll touch on making impressions, staying thirsty to learn, navigating the onboarding process, and meeting the team.

We’re excited to introduce our first guest on the show, Josh Kilgore! Josh is a career transitioner, having earned a law degree and working as an attorney for several years, before enrolling in Nashville Software School and diving into a new career in web development.

He recently started his first role as a junior software developer since completing the NSS program.

2:30 – Sharpening the ToolsErin has been learning technologies and processes at her new job, so self-learning has taken a bit of a back seat. She’s hoping to get back into the iOS Development Track she’s been working through on Treehouse within the next week or so.

Dave attended a unit testing/test driven development training through work.

Josh is sharpening all the tools, learning the technologies and processes at his new job, including test driven development.

8:58 – Opening the Toolbox

So you’ve landed and nailed the interview, and received and accepted the job offer! Congratulations! You’re stepping through the door on your first day….now what do you do?

9:52 – Josh talks a bit about his background on starting his career in law and how he found Nashville Software School and decided to make the transition to software development.

11:27 – “I’m part of the future, writing all these exciting things that are going to help shape the future of our world, and that’s the big draw to it, for me.”

12:50 – “I know everyone says this, but it really does come down to networking and perfect timing, and just putting yourself out there and making all the connections you can.”

13:33 – Josh’s day 1 thoughts on the new job: Awe. Why am I here? Where am I? Being hungry to learn.

15:22 – Erin’s first couple of days on the new job. She got to jump right in and observe the process that happens when a high priority production issue needs to be addressed. Requesting access, training on the application and various processes.

20:54 – “The reason that you or me or anyone is hired anywhere, especially as a junior or a newbie, is because they see potential. They understand that learning is going to take time, and as long as you continue to want to learn, you’ll be okay.”

33:53 – “It’s nice to have that connection. And if not a familiar face, at least a shared experience.”

37:07 – “Being able to communicate effectively is a huge part of this job. It’s not just the technical skills, but being able to ask questions and be able to express where any barriers are and that kind of thing.”

Takeaways From This Episode—–

Starting a new job can be daunting, especially at the entry or junior level.

Make sure to set clear goals and expectations from the start with your team and manager.

Thanks for listening, see you next time!

———————————————-

Terms of the Trade

6:42 – Gitflow – Gitflow Workflow is a Git workflow design that was first published and made popular by Vincent Driessen at nvie. The Gitflow Workflow defines a strict branching model designed around the project release. This provides a robust framework for managing larger projects.

6:48 – BitBucket – a web-based version control repository hosting service owned by Atlassian, for source code and development projects that use either Mercurial (since launch) or Git (since October 2011) revision control systems. (similar to GitHub)

6:53 – JIRA – Atlassian’s issue and project tracking tool. To put it simply: JIRA allows you to track any kind of unit of work (be it an issue, bug, story, project task, etc.) through a predefined workflow.

]]>Starting off on the right foot of your new Jr. Dev role
We’re excited to introduce our first guest on the show, Josh Kilgore! Josh is a career transitioner, having earned a law degree and working as an attorney for several years, before enrolling in Nashville Software School and diving into a new career in web development.
He recently started his first role as a junior software developer since completing the NSS program.
You can find Josh on LinkedIn and his personal portfolio site is joshkilgore.com.
2:30 – Sharpening the Tools

Erin has been learning technologies and processes at her new job, so self-learning has taken a bit of a back seat. She’s hoping to get back into the iOS Development Track she’s been working through on Treehouse within the next week or so.
Dave attended a unit testing/test driven development training through work.https://jrsinclair.com/articles/2016/gentle-introduction-to-javascript-tdd-intro/
Josh is sharpening all the tools, learning the technologies and processes at his new job, including test driven development.
8:58 – Opening the Toolbox
So you’ve landed and nailed the interview, and received and accepted the job offer! Congratulations! You’re stepping through the door on your first day….now what do you do?
9:52 – Josh talks a bit about his background on starting his career in law and how he found Nashville Software School and decided to make the transition to software development.
11:27 – “I’m part of the future, writing all these exciting things that are going to help shape the future of our world, and that’s the big draw to it, for me.”
12:50 – “I know everyone says this, but it really does come down to networking and perfect timing, and just putting yourself out there and making all the connections you can.”
13:33 – Josh’s day 1 thoughts on the new job: Awe. Why am I here? Where am I? Being hungry to learn.
15:22 – Erin’s first couple of days on the new job. She got to jump right in and observe the process that happens when a high priority production issue needs to be addressed. Requesting access, training on the application and various processes.
20:54 – “The reason that you or me or anyone is hired anywhere, especially as a junior or a newbie, is because they see potential. They understand that learning is going to take time, and as long as you continue to want to learn, you’ll be okay.”

33:53 – “It’s nice to have that connection. And if not a familiar face, at least a shared experience.”
37:07 – “Being able to communicate effectively is a huge part of this job. It’s not just the technical skills, but being able to ask questions and be able to express where any barriers are and that kind of thing.”

Takeaways From This Episode

—–

Starting a new job can be daunting, especially at the entry or junior level.
Be patient. Learning the business and processes will take time.
Stay hungry to learn, ask questions, make supportive connections at work.
Make sure to set clear goals and expectations from the start with your team and manager.

Thanks for listening, see you next time!
—————————R...]]>Erin and Daveclean43:06Episode 8 - Striking a Balancehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-8-striking-a-balance/
Tue, 16 Jan 2018 00:01:50 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=230https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-8-striking-a-balance/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-8-striking-a-balance/feed/0In this episode, we discuss our experiences and thoughts about finding a work / life balance in development roles. 0:54 – Sharpening the Tools Erin is continuing her Treehouse track for iOS development. She’s also earning some WordPress basics, with an eye on helping a local church with their website. Dave attended a meet-up thatContinue reading →In this episode, we discuss our experiences and thoughts about finding a work / life balance in development roles.

0:54 – Sharpening the ToolsErin is continuing her Treehouse track for iOS development. She’s also earning some WordPress basics, with an eye on helping a local church with their website.

Dave attended a meet-up that took a look into the D3.js library for data visualization.

Jason is continuing his exploration of the Angular framework and starting into using Ionic to be able to use Angular for mobile applications.

4:33 – Opening the Toolbox

We are sad to announce that Jason is stepping down as a regular co-host and contributor. He details the reasons for this decision and his focus at work, leading into our discussion of work/life balance.

13:54 – Work / Life balance is going to fluctuate and may never be a constant, but do you have a healthy balance over the long term?

17:59 – Work / Life balance is an illusion – we discuss popular development blogger John Sonmez’s article about this balance being a mindset. Work is going to take up a huge part of your day, so you should enjoy what you do. If not, you will compartmentalize and begin to think of work as detracting from your life.

Take care of yourself, choose your relationships carefully, and live as much as possible in the present moment, and you’ll find your life doesn’t need “balance”, because you’ll find joy and fulfillment in whatever you are doing.

30:01 – Does working from home complicate work/life balance? Or make it harder to separate the two?

34:58 – Erin’s Job Search Update

Erin has accepted a new job, and gives us the details and some of her decision making process.

Takeaways From This Episode—–

Work / life balance isn’t 100% in your control, but you may feel pressure as a junior to tip the scale towards work

Balance isn’t a constant, but a marathon pace

You don’t necessarily want to compartmentalize work

Working from home requires an effort to distinguish between work and home life

Thanks for listening, see you next time!

]]>Our experiences with finding work / life balance in a development role
0:54 – Sharpening the Tools

Erin is continuing her Treehouse track for iOS development. She’s also earning some WordPress basics, with an eye on helping a local church with their website.
Dave attended a meet-up that took a look into the D3.js library for data visualization.
Jason is continuing his exploration of the Angular framework and starting into using Ionic to be able to use Angular for mobile applications.
4:33 – Opening the Toolbox
We are sad to announce that Jason is stepping down as a regular co-host and contributor. He details the reasons for this decision and his focus at work, leading into our discussion of work/life balance.
6:46 – Sometimes work/life imbalances are self-imposed, sometimes for good reasons.
7:13 – Erin’s Bill Lumbergh impression from Office Space.
13:54 – Work / Life balance is going to fluctuate and may never be a constant, but do you have a healthy balance over the long term?
17:59 – Work / Life balance is an illusion – we discuss popular development blogger John Sonmez’s article about this balance being a mindset. Work is going to take up a huge part of your day, so you should enjoy what you do. If not, you will compartmentalize and begin to think of work as detracting from your life.
Take care of yourself, choose your relationships carefully, and live as much as possible in the present moment, and you’ll find your life doesn’t need “balance”, because you’ll find joy and fulfillment in whatever you are doing.
22:22 – One of the inventor’s of the Scrum process points out that overtime does not equal more productivity.
27:36 – Dave brings up one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People about the prioritization of work based on an urgency / importance matrix. This is also known as Covey’s time management matrix, or the Eisenhower decision matrix.
30:01 – Does working from home complicate work/life balance? Or make it harder to separate the two?
34:58 – Erin’s Job Search Update
Erin has accepted a new job, and gives us the details and some of her decision making process.

Takeaways From This Episode

—–

Work / life balance isn’t 100% in your control, but you may feel pressure as a junior to tip the scale towards work
Balance isn’t a constant, but a marathon pace
You don’t necessarily want to compartmentalize work
Working from home requires an effort to distinguish between work and home life

Thanks for listening, see you next time!]]>Erin, Dave, and Jasonclean46:30Episode 7 - Goal Setting for Devshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-7-goal-setting-like-a-dev/
Tue, 02 Jan 2018 20:55:24 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=213https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-7-goal-setting-like-a-dev/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-7-goal-setting-like-a-dev/feed/0In our first episode of 2018, and in the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions and bettering ourselves, we thought it would make sense to talk about goal planning. While it’s not always specifically tech or development related, it can still be immensely useful in furthering your personal and career growth in the long run. 0:45Continue reading →In our first episode of 2018, and in the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions and bettering ourselves, we thought it would make sense to talk about goal planning. While it’s not always specifically tech or development related, it can still be immensely useful in furthering your personal and career growth in the long run.

0:45 – Sharpening the ToolsErin built an iOS app and loaded it onto her phone. Following a Treehouse tutorial and diving into Swift.

Dave has been experimenting with Firebase’s authentication API.

6:09 – Opening the Toolbox

Inspiration from our friend on Slack:

sassy_samurai – “They say announcing a goal in public makes you more likely to work on it and stay focused. So, today I announce my big, hairy, ambitious goal (BHAG). It is to rank in the top 50 of a highly competitive entrance exam in my country for grad school aspirants. Let’s see how it goes. The exam is on Feb the 4th of next year. You get to laugh hard at me if I fail at this.”

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll

We often learn more from those and our failures than our successes. The key is to stay motivated and adjust your plan to still be able to reach your goals. (Kind of like the iterative Agile/SCRUM methodology)

40:04 – Erin’s Job Search Update

Takeaways From This Episode—–Break steps to achieve your goal down into manageable steps.

Write your goals down.

Reward yourself a little along the way.

Stay motivated.

Terms of the Trade

—–

Favicon – a small, iconic image that represents your website. Favicons are most often found in the address bar of your web browser, but they can also be used in lists of bookmarks in web browsers and feed aggregators.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – A minimum viable product (MVP) is a development technique in which a new product or website is developed with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters. The final, complete set of features is only designed and developed after considering feedback from the product’s initial users.

User Stories -A user story is a tool used in Agile software development to capture a description of a software feature from an end-user perspective. The user story describes the type of user, what they want and why. A user story helps to create a simplified description of a requirement.

]]>a SCRUM approach to new year resolutions
0:45 – Sharpening the Tools

Erin built an iOS app and loaded it onto her phone. Following a Treehouse tutorial and diving into Swift.
Dave has been experimenting with Firebase’s authentication API.

6:09 – Opening the Toolbox
Inspiration from our friend on Slack:
sassy_samurai – “They say announcing a goal in public makes you more likely to work on it and stay focused. So, today I announce my big, hairy, ambitious goal (BHAG). It is to rank in the top 50 of a highly competitive entrance exam in my country for grad school aspirants. Let’s see how it goes. The exam is on Feb the 4th of next year. You get to laugh hard at me if I fail at this.”
8:02 – Our personal goals – ongoing learning, staying organized, projects at work, growing the podcast and engage with our listeners!
So we’ve got some goals, that’s awesome — but what’s next?
12:04 – “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
14:55 – Applications aren’t built in a day! But what will you do with a whole year?
15:50 – “Begin with the end in mind”, from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, reminding us to start with long term vision and work backwards.
18:42 – MVP Minimum Viable Product
20:01 – Writing down your goal, “putting it out in the universe”, or telling a friend solidifies the goal and makes you more accountable.
20:50 – When we break down our goals into steps, the middle ones are usually the hardest. Defining “Step 2” is the hard work but vital to achieving the goal. “Don’t be like the underpants gnomes.”
25:16 – Setbacks! The loss of a job, unexpected financial changes, can change all of your goal priorities. That’s why frequent review is important (and built into SCRUM).

Trello – create boards, cards/task, checklists, due dates, etc. keep track of everything you need to accomplish for your project.
Google Goals – essentially you can name a goal and say how often you want to work toward the goal and for how long during each session.

For example, Erin has one setup where she wants to work on learning about programming/work on development 3 times a week for one hour.
Caveat: I think currently you can only edit details of these from your phone, as the web app only supports moving the session time, deleting a session, or marking a session as done.

* Have an accountabili-buddy
* Reward yourself! When you complete a manageable piece, reward yourself. This means a little something different to everyone.

* Examples:

* Watch an episode of a series you’ve been watching.
* Buy something from your Amazon list.
* Play video games for a little bit.]]>Erin and Daveclean50:38Episode 6 - Gear, Gadgets, and Apps - Oh My!https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-6-gear-gadgets-and-apps-oh-my/
Tue, 19 Dec 2017 06:03:40 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=197https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-6-gear-gadgets-and-apps-oh-my/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-6-gear-gadgets-and-apps-oh-my/feed/2For our holiday episode we discuss some fun tools, and programs we use at home and around the office. 00:55 – Sharpening the Tools 00:57 – Erin is still learning Swift and Beginner iOS development track on Treehouse. 2:50 – 4:30 – Dave goes to Scrum training 4:30 – 6:10 – Jason is learning backendContinue reading →For our holiday episode we discuss some fun tools, and programs we use at home and around the office.

00:55 – Sharpening the Tools

00:57 – Erin is still learning Swift and Beginner iOS development track on Treehouse.

Filters out blue-light after sunset to help reduce eye strain and fatigue.

36:35 – Computer chairs

We discuss posture, neck support, tilt angle, adjustable arms

41:06 – Erin’s job search update.

]]>Hardware and Software Goodies for the Holidays
00:55 – Sharpening the Tools
00:57 – Erin is still learning Swift and Beginner iOS development track on Treehouse.
2:50 – 4:30 – Dave goes to Scrum training
4:30 – 6:10 – Jason is learning backend stuff, learning about deadline challenges and general chaos that sometimes happens in software development.
“Sometimes the only way to learn a new thing, is to just jump in the deep end and learn to swim.”
5:58 – Opening the Toolbox
6:32 – 9:30 – Roost Laptop Stand
“I’ve read that you’re supposed to have your screens at eye level, to help reduce strain on your neck and shoulders, and this stand really helps with that.”
9:55 – 12:52 – Varidesk
“Sitting down all day is bad for you, and I’m definitely experiencing some shoulder and back strain that I’m hoping to find some solutions to alleviate.”
14:28 – 16:11 – Trueno Synth
For musicians and home recording folks, check out this small analog synthesizer “masquerading as a USB stick.”
16:12 – 19:34 – VS Code
Visual Studio Code turned out to be the text editor of choice for all 3 JDT hosts! We talk about the many editors we’ve used along our way to discovering this gem.
19:45 – 24:06 – Split keyboards
We briefly discuss ergonomic and split keyboards, and promptly go on a tangent about proper typing technique 🙂 Does anyone remember Mavis Beacon?
Typing Resources –
24:14 – Spectacle and Magnet
Two Mac applications for managing your workspace and windows on desktop.
Pro tip: “You should really lock your screen when you walk away!” Trust us. Your co-workers are vicious.
29:54 – Caffeine
Prevents your computer from going to sleep.
33:09 – Flux and Redshift
Filters out blue-light after sunset to help reduce eye strain and fatigue.
36:35 – Computer chairs
We discuss posture, neck support, tilt angle, adjustable arms
41:06 – Erin’s job search update.]]>Erin, Dave, and Jasonclean59:28Episode 5 - the n00b Never Stopshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-5-the-n00b-never-stops/
Tue, 05 Dec 2017 00:01:39 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=186https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-5-the-n00b-never-stops/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-5-the-n00b-never-stops/feed/0Do you feel like a total n00b sometimes, overwhelmed at the sheer volume of things to learn? Well the bad news is that never quite goes away – you’ll always have more to learn, and feel like you’re back at square one. But that’s the good news too! You will always be challenged and needContinue reading →Do you feel like a total n00b sometimes, overwhelmed at the sheer volume of things to learn? Well the bad news is that never quite goes away – you’ll always have more to learn, and feel like you’re back at square one. But that’s the good news too! You will always be challenged and need to work hard to stay on top of new trends and technology. Embrace the n00b-ness!

43:47 – Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) – a contract by which one or more parties agree not to disclose confidential information that they have shared with each other as a necessary part of doing business together.

]]>Do you feel like a total n00b sometimes, overwhelmed at the sheer volume of things to learn? Well the bad news is that never quite goes away – you’ll always have more to learn, and feel like you’re back at square one. But that’s the good news too!
In this episode we talk about how we work to continue our learning.

0:51 – Sharpening the Tools

Erin: New Treehouse course – beginning iOS & Swift track
Dave: Giving a job interview – my first time on the other side of the table!
“Some of those cliche questions … there aren’t really right or wrong answers.”
Jason: Deep dive into Angular 2, tokens and OAuth

7:18 – Opening the Toolbox

How do you continue your learning?
Tips for learning through video tutorials:

* Do a couple tutorials over the same topic
* Pause the video before they show something, and take your own stab at it
* Follow along, but make changes to what’s being built – get creative
* Make sure it’s up to date!

24:33 “Give your brain room to breathe, when you’re consuming a lot of new material”
31:10 “I have so much homework, I’m just gonna go play video games”The Growth Mindset is the attitude that you can work hard and improve your understanding of a subject, versus thinking you just don’t get it because you’ve hit your limit and you’re not smart enough.
44:37 – Erin’s Job Search Update

What exactly is networking? And why does nobody apparently like to do it?

Networking: to interact with other people to exchange information and develop contacts, especially to further one’s career.

Almost nobody likes doing it because:

Many people don’t like talking to strangers

It can feel sleazy or awkward, like everyone has an ulterior motive

Knowing who the “right” people to try talking with is difficult, or even if you know who you’d like to talk to, grabbing them when they have a free minute or trying to insert yourself into a conversation with them where they may be talking to a group is difficult.

It’s exhausting, even for “extroverted” people. Remembering names, stories, and details about the many people you meet on a daily or weekly basis takes a lot of effort.

It’s important to begin to network with people in your field as early as you can, especially before you need a job. It’ll be easier to connect with people, and make the connection feel more genuine, based on mutual interests and have casual conversations versus going into an interaction looking for a way that someone can help you get a job or further your career.

General tips:

9:45 – Find genuine connections based on mutual interests

12:20 – Tricks for remembering names

15:08 – What to do with all those business cards

18:46 – If you get someone talking about themselves, they will remember you as being fascinating.

25:15 – Dave, Erin, and Jason talk about their first tech networking experiences.

30:32 – People are here to mingle with other people…It’s a mingling kind of environment.

It helps to go in with a mindset where you know you’re probably only going to be talking to an one individual for a maximum of 10-15 minutes. If you find a deeper connection on mutual interests, then by all means extend the conversation through LinkedIn, e-mail, and other communication mediums.

37:40 – I didn’t get the job because I know somebody, I was able to demonstrate my skills and prove that, but maybe I wouldn’t have gotten that look or gotten past HR if it weren’t for that personal connection.

38:00 – Erin’s Job Hunt

Erin updates us on where’s she’s at with her job hunt. We discuss some interview questions she was asked, some things to look out for when job hunting, and perhaps most importantly, make sure both your phone and your computer are on mute or Do Not Disturb mode during an interview!

Terms of the Trade

00:44 – Bootstrap 4 – The most recent version of the popular HTML, CSS, and JavaScript framework.

1:45 – AJAX – Ascynchronus JavaScript and XML – a client side technique for communication with a web server. In other words, it allows you to fetch data ‘in the background’ without having to reload a whole page.

3:38 – Angular 2/Angular 4 – Angular is a platform that makes it easy to build applications with the web. Angular combines declarative templates, dependency injection, end to end tooling, and integrated best practices to solve development challenges. Angular empowers developers to build applications that live on the web, mobile, or the desktop. Angular 2 and 4 have both been released in quick succession within the last 2 years. See Jason’s Sharpening the Tools section for links on learning Angular 2.

44:56 – Serialization – the process of converting an object into a stream of bytes in order to store the object or transmit it to memory, a database, or a file. Its main purpose is to save the state of an object in order to be able to recreate it when needed. The reverse process is called deserialization.

42:06 – Encryption – The translation of data into a secret code. Encryption is the most effective way to achieve data security. To read an encrypted file, you must have access to a secret key or password that enables you to decrypt it. Unencrypted data is called plain text; encrypted data is referred to as cipher text.

42:09 – Hashing –any function that can be used to map data of arbitrary size to data of fixed size. The values returned by a hash function are called hash values, hashcodes, digests, or simply hashes. One use is a data structure called a hash table, widely used in computer software for rapid data lookup.

]]>It’s not what you know, but who you know! Wait, whaaat? I have to interact with PEOPLE? In PUBLIC?!? I’m only here for the food!! In this episode we share stories, tips, and tactics from the much maligned world of networking.
In this episode we share stories, tips, and tactics from the much maligned world of networking.

5:45 Opening the Toolbox – Networking!
What exactly is networking? And why does nobody apparently like to do it?

* Networking: to interact with other people to exchange information and develop contacts, especially to further one’s career.

Almost nobody likes doing it because:

* Many people don’t like talking to strangers
* It can feel sleazy or awkward, like everyone has an ulterior motive
* Knowing who the “right” people to try talking with is difficult, or even if you know who you’d like to talk to, grabbing them when they have a free minute or trying to insert yourself into a conversation with them where they may be talking to a group is difficult.
* It’s exhausting, even for “extroverted” people. Remembering names, stories, and details about the many people you meet on a daily or weekly basis takes a lot of effort.

11:29 Wait. There are beer tasting meet-ups?!
Check out this updated book originally written by Dale Carnegie called, “How win friends and influence people in the digital age”
It’s important to begin to network with people in your field as early as you can, especially before you need a job. It’ll be easier to connect with people, and make the connection feel more genuine, based on mutual interests and have casual conversations versus going into an interaction looking for a way that someone can help you get a job or further your career.
General tips:

* 9:45 – Find genuine connections based on mutual interests
* 12:20 – Tricks for remembering names
* 15:08 – What to do with all those business cards
* 18:46 – If you get someone talking about themselves, they will remember you as being fascinating.

25:15 – Dave, Erin, and Jason talk about their first tech networking experiences.
30:32 – People are here to mingle with other people…It’s a mingling kind of environment.
It helps to go in with a mindset where you know you’re probably only going to be talking to an one individual for a maximum of 10-15 minutes. If you find a deeper connection on mutual interests, then by all means extend the conversation through LinkedIn, e-mail, and other communication mediums.
37:40 – I didn’t get the job because I know somebody, I was able to demonstrate my skills and prove that, but maybe I wouldn’t have gotten that look or gotten past HR if it weren’t for that personal connection.
38:00 – Erin’s Job Hunt
Erin updates us on where’s she’s at with her job hunt. We discuss some interview questions she was asked, some things to look out for when job hunting, and perhaps most importantly, make sure both your phone and your computer are on mute or Do Not Disturb mode during an interview!

]]>Erin Orstrom & Dave Harnedclean58:54Episode 3 - Diagnosis: Imposter Syndromehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-3-diagnosis-imposter-syndrome/
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 12:01:03 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=162https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-3-diagnosis-imposter-syndrome/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-3-diagnosis-imposter-syndrome/feed/0In this episode we explore ‘Imposter Syndrome’ and how it has manifested itself in our careers. Are you an imposter, or do you just play one on TV? How do you deal with it, and what does it mean? 1:13 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week? Erin is reviewing the basics!Continue reading →In this episode we explore ‘Imposter Syndrome’ and how it has manifested itself in our careers. Are you an imposter, or do you just play one on TV? How do you deal with it, and what does it mean?

1:13 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week?

Erin is reviewing the basics! ASP.NET and Front-End tracks on treehouse.

Imposter Syndrome: the inability to internalize your accomplishments, and a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud.

18:49 – “It’s like self-peer pressure. I’m wearing it, so I feel like I have to live up to the shirt.” – This mentality plays a lot into the mindset of someone who feels Imposter Syndrome, that they need to live up to others’ expectations (whether real or perceived) of them.

21:16 – “Do I belong here? Am I going to be able to pull my weight? They’re paying me to do this?”

28:25 – “Imposter Syndrome can affect you based on your environment.” – Clear expectations on both sides (the developer and the employer/client) plays a huge part in how Imposter Syndrome can affect you.

30:28 – “Imposter Syndrome…maybe has a lot to do with our perception of our knowledge in that sphere relative to other people’s…How we perceive ourselves in relation to others.”

33:00 – “I think having Imposter Syndrome leads to having of a drive to learn the things that you don’t know.”

33:54 – Erin’s Job Hunt Update:

Erin’s contract has just ended. She received lots of constructive, encouraging feedback from individuals from her last job before she left. She wrapped things up and left things as gracefully and positively as possible. She has gotten a few LinkedIn Recommendations, reaching out to her network, and she has spoken with a few recruiters about potential positions.

Terms of the Trade

2:13 – ASP.NET – ASP.NET is a unified Web development model that includes the services necessary for you to build enterprise-class Web applications with a minimum of coding. ASP.NET is part of the .NET Framework, and when coding ASP.NET applications you have access to classes in the .NET Framework

5:07 – Flexbox – The Flexbox Layout (Flexible Box) module aims at providing a more efficient way to lay out, align and distribute space among items in a container, even when their size is unknown and/or dynamic.

7:51 – Static site generator – A static site is a collection of pages contained in basic HTML files. A static site generator (SSG) is a compromise between using a hand-coded static siteand a full CMS. You generate an HTML-only websiteusing raw data (such as Markdown files) and templates.

9:00 – Backend – This type of web development usually consists of three parts: a server, an application, and a database. Code written by back end developers is what communicates the database information to the browser. Anything you can’t see easily with the eye such as databases and servers is the work of a back end developer.

9:52 – Strongly typed languages (C#/Java) – A strongly-typed programming language is one in which each type of data (such as integer, character, hexadecimal, packed decimal, and so forth) is predefined as part of the programming language and all constants or variables defined for a given program must be described with one of the data types.

10:15 – (JavaScript) Coercion – Converting a value from one type to another is often called “type casting,” when done explicitly, and “coercion” when done implicitly (forced by the rules of how a value is used).

10:33 – Intellisense – IntelliSense is a code completion tool that is built into Microsoft Visual Studio. It is one of a number of similar tools that allow for intelligent code completion or intelligent text completion on different platforms.

12:22 – REST APIs – Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface, defines a set of functions which developers can perform requests and receive responses via HTTP protocol such as GET and POST

12:25 – Unit Testing – Unit testing is a software development process in which the smallest testable parts of an application, called units, are individually and independently scrutinized for proper operation. Unit testing can be done manually but is often automated.

12:27 – Integration Testing – Integration testing, also known as integration and testing (I&T), is a software development process which program units are combined and tested as groups in multiple ways. In this context, a unit is defined as the smallest testable part of an application.

17:33 – Abstraction – In object-oriented programming, abstraction is one of three central principles (along with encapsulation and inheritance). Through the process of abstraction, a programmer hides all but the relevant data about an object in order to reduce complexity and increase efficiency.

25:24 – Debugging – is a multistep process that involves identifying a problem, isolating the source of the problem, and then either correcting the problem or determining a way to work around it. A debugger is a tool used to do so.

If you have a question or topic you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to reach out to us by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to read some great questions on future shows.

]]>In this episode we explore ‘Imposter Syndrome’ and how it has manifested itself in our careers. Are you an imposter, or do you just play one on TV? How do you deal with it, and what does it mean? 1:13 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning...
1:13 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week?
Erin is reviewing the basics! ASP.NET and Front-End tracks on treehouse.
Dave is learning a New CMS: Adobe Experience Manager.
Jason mentioned Some exercises to learn flexbox CSS, and JavaScript testing with Mocha & Chai
—–
18:30 – “Opening the Toolbox”
What do you call a fake noodle? An Impasta!
Imposter Syndrome: the inability to internalize your accomplishments, and a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud.
18:49 – “It’s like self-peer pressure. I’m wearing it, so I feel like I have to live up to the shirt.” – This mentality plays a lot into the mindset of someone who feels Imposter Syndrome, that they need to live up to others’ expectations (whether real or perceived) of them.
21:16 – “Do I belong here? Am I going to be able to pull my weight? They’re paying me to do this?”
28:25 – “Imposter Syndrome can affect you based on your environment.” – Clear expectations on both sides (the developer and the employer/client) plays a huge part in how Imposter Syndrome can affect you.
30:28 – “Imposter Syndrome…maybe has a lot to do with our perception of our knowledge in that sphere relative to other people’s…How we perceive ourselves in relation to others.”
33:00 – “I think having Imposter Syndrome leads to having of a drive to learn the things that you don’t know.”
33:54 – Erin’s Job Hunt Update:
Erin’s contract has just ended. She received lots of constructive, encouraging feedback from individuals from her last job before she left. She wrapped things up and left things as gracefully and positively as possible. She has gotten a few LinkedIn Recommendations, reaching out to her network, and she has spoken with a few recruiters about potential positions.

Terms of the Trade
2:13 – ASP.NET – ASP.NET is a unified Web development model that includes the services necessary for you to build enterprise-class Web applications with a minimum of coding. ASP.NET is part of the .NET Framework, and when coding ASP.NET applications you have access to classes in the .NET FrameworkASP.NET Overview
3:01 – Visual Studio Community – A fully-featured, extensible, free IDE for creating modern applications for Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, as well as web applications and cloud services.Visual Studio Community
3:50 – Virtual Box – VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware, targeted at server, desktop and embedded use.
4:49 – Front-end – Front–end web development is the practice of producing HTML, CSS and JavaScript for a website or Web Application so that a user can see and interact with them directly. (Wikipedia)Exactly What You Need to Know to Be a Front End Developer – Skillcrush BlogFront-end vs. Backend – Treehouse Blog
]]>Erin, Dave, and Jasonclean51:38Episode 2 - Git R Donehttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-2-git-r-done/
Thu, 26 Oct 2017 04:04:36 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=154https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-2-git-r-done/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-2-git-r-done/feed/0In this episode we talk about version control – essentially a way to track your work and collaborate with others on projects so that you’re not stepping on each others toes. In fact it’s kinda like saving in Skyrim … 0:54 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week? Erin: Time Management Dave:Continue reading →In this episode we talk about version control – essentially a way to track your work and collaborate with others on projects so that you’re not stepping on each others toes. In fact it’s kinda like saving in Skyrim …

24:30 – Excel Hell – an example of life without version control, and how it can kill a team’s productivity.

28:15 – Job Hunt Update – The reality of every career is that jobs aren’t permanent and change is inevitable! This new section will follow along on the job hunt as one of our fearless hosts deals with a contract ending and begins the search anew.

—–

If you have a question or topic you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to reach out to us by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to read some great questions on future shows.

]]>In this episode we talk about version control – essentially a way to track your work and collaborate with others on projects so that you’re not stepping on each others toes. In fact it’s kinda like saving in Skyrim … 0:54 – “Sharpening the Tools” – Wha...
0:54 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week?
Erin: Time Management
Dave: Checking out Firefox Quantum Dev Edition – a new browser to challenge the mighty Chrome??
Jason: Are QR Codes making a comeback?
—–
3:46 – “Opening the Toolbox”
This week we’re talking about version control. Namely, git, github, SVN, Mercurial, and TFS – what is it, why and how should you use it? This is an essential tool in every junior dev’s toolbox.
5:12 – Git is kinda like saving in Skyrim!
7:48 – Commitment Issues – how often do you commit? “You don’t want to push broken code on other people.”
13:20 – Merge conflicts! Oh my! GUIs verses command line.
20:41 – HacktoberFest open source challenge – a great way to start contributing on github, along with FreeCodeCamp’s Guides project!
24:30 – Excel Hell – an example of life without version control, and how it can kill a team’s productivity.
28:15 – Job Hunt Update – The reality of every career is that jobs aren’t permanent and change is inevitable! This new section will follow along on the job hunt as one of our fearless hosts deals with a contract ending and begins the search anew.
—–
If you have a question or topic you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to reach out to us by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to read some great questions on future shows.]]>Erin, Dave, and Jasonclean46:33Episode 1 - How to Hello Worldhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-1-how-to-hello-world/
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 04:24:15 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=119https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-1-how-to-hello-world/#respondhttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-1-how-to-hello-world/feed/0Welcome back to the toolbox! In this episode we dive into how we first dove in, and discuss how to get started learning to program. 1:04 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week? Felix Gray computer glasses filter out blue light that causes eye strain. Redshift is an open source package thatContinue reading →Welcome back to the toolbox! In this episode we dive into how we first dove in, and discuss how to get started learning to program.

1:04 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week?

Felix Gray computer glasses filter out blue light that causes eye strain. Redshift is an open source package that can adjust your computer screen to help reduce strain. Take care of your peepers!

12:28 – “Opening the Toolbox”

This week we will look back on how we first learned to “hello world”. We knew we were interested in learning more about software development. But how to get started? Which resources are the best and the most cost-effective? Which ones match your personal learning style?

Some of our favorite learning links mentioned:

100 Days of Code – this started as a blog post about a personal challenge for coding for 100 days in a row, and people started following along, watching the GitHub repo, and hashtagging about their own progress on Twitter.

Codecademy – (free and paid) some great tutorials on a variety of web topics.

Udemy – (paid per course) a ton of popular video courses on a variety of topics. Tip: don’t think you have to pay full price for these courses, they have very frequent sales knocking things down to $10-15.

FreeCodeCamp – (free) a non-profit, open source community for learning full-stack JavaScript programming with a structured curriculum of lessons, challenges, and projects.

Stack Overflow – (free) this is a popular industry forum for asking programming questions. When you start googling questions about code, you will see this site come up over and over. Get to know this site, you’re going to become good friends.

Mozilla Developer Network – (free) an excellent professional resource about all things front-end, from the folks behind Firefox.

Viking Code School – Prep Work – VCS is a (paid) online bootcamp, but they have (free) prep work which provides some great structure for getting started.

Treehouse – (paid) video courses on a variety of topics. They currently offer a 7 day free trial and then a monthly subscription after that.

Learning How to Learn – (free) a course from the University of California about how our brains tackle tough subjects, and how we can turn that knowledge into learning strategies.

—–

We want to thank everyone who is checking out our new podcast, and hope you’ll find it entertaining and helpful as we continue to record new content. Please bear with us as we get things started!

If you have a question or topic you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to reach out to us by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to read some great questions on future shows.

]]>Diving into how we first dove into programming
1:04 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week?Felix Gray computer glasses filter out blue light that causes eye strain. Redshift is an open source package that can adjust your computer screen to help reduce strain. Take care of your peepers!
12:28 – “Opening the Toolbox”
This week we will look back on how we first learned to “hello world”. We knew we were interested in learning more about software development. But how to get started? Which resources are the best and the most cost-effective? Which ones match your personal learning style?
Some of our favorite learning links mentioned:100 Days of Code – this started as a blog post about a personal challenge for coding for 100 days in a row, and people started following along, watching the GitHub repo, and hashtagging about their own progress on Twitter.Codecademy – (free and paid) some great tutorials on a variety of web topics.Udemy – (paid per course) a ton of popular video courses on a variety of topics. Tip: don’t think you have to pay full price for these courses, they have very frequent sales knocking things down to $10-15.FreeCodeCamp – (free) a non-profit, open source community for learning full-stack JavaScript programming with a structured curriculum of lessons, challenges, and projects.Stack Overflow – (free) this is a popular industry forum for asking programming questions. When you start googling questions about code, you will see this site come up over and over. Get to know this site, you’re going to become good friends.Mozilla Developer Network – (free) an excellent professional resource about all things front-end, from the folks behind Firefox.Viking Code School – Prep Work – VCS is a (paid) online bootcamp, but they have (free) prep work which provides some great structure for getting started.Treehouse – (paid) video courses on a variety of topics. They currently offer a 7 day free trial and then a monthly subscription after that.Udacity Nanodegrees – (paid) structured, focused courses offering credentials in a number of tech topics.Learning How to Learn – (free) a course from the University of California about how our brains tackle tough subjects, and how we can turn that knowledge into learning strategies.
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We want to thank everyone who is checking out our new podcast, and hope you’ll find it entertaining and helpful as we continue to record new content. Please bear with us as we get things started!
If you have a question or topic you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to reach out to us by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to read some great questions on future shows.]]>Erin, Dave, and Jasonclean54:28Episode 0 – Welcome to Junior Developer Toolbox!https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-0-welcome-to-junior-developer-toolbox/
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 04:48:43 +0000http://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/?p=55https://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-0-welcome-to-junior-developer-toolbox/#commentshttps://juniordevelopertoolbox.com/episode-0-welcome-to-junior-developer-toolbox/feed/8Welcome to the first episode of the Junior Developer Toolbox Podcast! We’re excited to be here, and this episode is all about letting you get to know us and what to expect from the show. Erin Orstrom is a graduate of cohort 12 from Nashville Software School and has been employed as a junior developerContinue reading →Welcome to the first episode of the Junior Developer Toolbox Podcast! We’re excited to be here, and this episode is all about letting you get to know us and what to expect from the show.

Erin Orstrom is a graduate of cohort 12 from Nashville Software School and has been employed as a junior developer for a little over a year now. She is a big fan of Game of Thrones and weekly group trivia games.

Jason Belcher has just transitioned into his first developer role after years of hard study. He is diving deep into mobile development, enjoys composing music (including our intro theme!), and lives in Atlanta, GA.

Dave Harned is also a self-taught developer and an advocate of sites like freecodecamp, codecademy, and udemy. He lives in Nashville, runs a meet-up group, and recently started his job as a web administrator.

1:17 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week?

12:25 – “Opening the Toolbox”

This week’s topic is all about us; How we got interested in software development, how we got to where we are, and what we’re working on now.

13:15 – Jason’s introduction

“I started playing around with HTML before CSS existed”

25:31 – Erin’s introduction

“.. that lead me into a google search of ‘how do you update a website?’ Just something very general, my google-fu wasn’t on point at that time …”

42:05 – Dave’s introduction

“The moral of the story was I had published something to the web, and I was proud of it, and kind of got hooked, and that was the point I decided I wanted to learn how to do this.”

—–

We want to thank everyone who is listening to our first podcast episode and hope you’ll find it entertaining and helpful as we continue to record new content. Please bear with us as we get things started!

If you have a question or topic you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to reach out to us by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to read some great questions on future shows.

]]>an introduction to your JDT hosts - Dave, Erin, and Jason
Erin Orstrom is a graduate of cohort 12 from Nashville Software School and has been employed as a junior developer for a little over a year now. She is a big fan of Game of Thrones and weekly group trivia games.
Jason Belcher has just transitioned into his first developer role after years of hard study. He is diving deep into mobile development, enjoys composing music (including our intro theme!), and lives in Atlanta, GA.
Dave Harned is also a self-taught developer and an advocate of sites like freecodecamp, codecademy, and udemy. He lives in Nashville, runs a meet-up group, and recently started his job as a web administrator.
1:17 – “Sharpening the Tools” – What’s Everyone Learning This Week?
12:25 – “Opening the Toolbox”
This week’s topic is all about us; How we got interested in software development, how we got to where we are, and what we’re working on now.
13:15 – Jason’s introduction
“I started playing around with HTML before CSS existed”
25:31 – Erin’s introduction
“.. that lead me into a google search of ‘how do you update a website?’ Just something very general, my google-fu wasn’t on point at that time …”
42:05 – Dave’s introduction
“The moral of the story was I had published something to the web, and I was proud of it, and kind of got hooked, and that was the point I decided I wanted to learn how to do this.”
—–
We want to thank everyone who is listening to our first podcast episode and hope you’ll find it entertaining and helpful as we continue to record new content. Please bear with us as we get things started!
If you have a question or topic you would like us to cover in the future, feel free to reach out to us by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We would love to read some great questions on future shows.]]>Jason Belcher, Dave Harned, and Erin Orstromclean55:12